Spending With Purpose

Earlier this week Bryan, Heath, and I attended a monthly meeting for the Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) Houston chapter.
Taken Your Temperature Lately?

When our 28-year-old daughter, Caitlin, was just four months old, my wife and I noticed she was running a fever. We had been parents for exactly four months and began to get nervous about it. We had no parents handy …
What’s Your Retirement Number?

A couple of years ago, ING started a great marketing campaign to encourage people to start saving for retirement. The “What’s your retirement number?” slogan was undoubtedly derived from a common question that financial advisors hear from clients every day. …
Syria and the Market

The situation in Syria has gone from bad to worse over the last few weeks. The U.S. and allies are preparing for a possible military strike against President Assad’s regime in a country that has been torn apart by a brutal civil war. …
Great Divide: The Economy and the Stock Market Disconnect

If economic growth is so anemic, why are stocks so robust? This is the number one question I get these days, and for good reason. After all, since mid-2009 the average annual growth of the economy, as measured by growth of …
View Our 1st Qtr Newsletter

We are pleased to announce the redesign of our Quarterly Newsletter. Click here to view the 1st quarter newsletter, which was published on 4/15/2013. Feedback and comments are welcome.
The Annual End of the World

There are millions of intelligent people in this country (don’t laugh- seriously!), many of whom invest their money in the securities markets. Why, then, are there so few genuinely successful investors? In my opinion, the answer is simple – they …
Is Your IQ Overrated?

My three-year-old daughter, Dawson, has been learning her ABCs, and for the very first time, on Sunday, she wrote her name. My wife and I were so proud. We awed over her, as parents tend to do, because we wanted …
Benchmarks and Investor Psychology

Growing up on the east coast, your perception of Texas is what you might see in old John Wayne westerns. When I told my friends and family I was planning on moving here, I could see wild visions floating through …
How Much Farther Can It Go?

As I write, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed at over 14,397, a 120% increase since its bottom of 6,547 at the market’s nadir exactly four years ago on March 9, 2009. Countless articles are being written on the …