Spencer Financial Planning turned 2 years old yesterday!

In this blog post, I share some facts, non-facts, observations, and reflections regarding two years of providing financial planning services to my clients.

Spoiler alert: It has been amazing.

The stock market has taken us for a bit of a rough ride recently.

You might be wondering whether you should sell everything. To stop the bleeding.

The answer is fairly simple: Stick to your plan, as long as you have a well-balanced portfolio that’s appropriate for you.

Stock downturns are painful, but you still need to let stocks play their appropriate role in your portfolio.

A common piece of advice is to max out your pre-tax 401(k) while you work. You'll get a tax break now and then pay taxes on the money during retirement when you'll be in a lower tax bracket.

But, is that actually true?

How should you be invested during retirement? Where will your spending money come from? What happens if the stock markets go down? Are your investments safe enough? Let’s take a look at the concept of Investment Buckets.

It’s tax time! You’ve probably been receiving various tax forms in the mail and/or been getting emails saying your forms are available online.

You may be wondering whether you’ve received everything you’re supposed to receive. Should you go ahead and start working on your taxes now, or wait?

This chart may help shed some light on which tax forms you can expect to receive and when.

Behold. The end of the year is upon us.

If you’re anything like me, you probably lay in bed late at night wondering whether there are any additional last-minute strategies you can enact to optimize your finances.

That's how everyone thinks, right?

Good news! No need to miss out on your beauty sleep anymore, as there are some ideas below.

“Why do we do a thankful tree?”

Our 4-year-old asked the question as he stretched precariously to place a construction paper leaf on the highest branch he could reach.

We don’t know when we started the tradition. We think it was at least 10 years ago now. But every day between November 1 and Thanksgiving, each member of our family writes something they are thankful for on a construction paper leaf, and adds it to a “Thank Full” tree made of discarded branches.

— To read more about how gratitude, giving, and financial health intersect, click below.

FSAs can be fantastic tools to essentially get a discount/deduction on health care and/or dependent care. And there’s a temporary rule in effect for 2020-2021 that can allow even more flexibility.

U.S. Series I Savings Bonds (aka "I bonds") are making some waves in financial circles.

Why, you ask? Let’s see if we can unpack it a bit.

For those of you who pay attention to how much gets deposited into your checking account from your paychecks, you may have noticed that your pay randomly goes up at some point during the year.

There's a good chance it's due to Social Security.

There are a lot of proposals, rumors, and ideas floating around out there when it comes to tax reform.

The Biden administration and the House Ways and Means Committee recently released their respective proposed plans.

Let’s see, at a high level, what’s in there.

The experience of getting evacuated from our home recently due to a nearby fire got me thinking about the importance of homeowners insurance. What should you look out for when getting home insurance? What's important vs. what's not? Let’s dig in.

You may have heard or seen that, as of July 2021, the IRS is starting to send out advance payments for the Child Tax Credit. This short article goes over some of the basics.

Hitting the one-year mark as a financial planning firm is an exciting milestone. In this article, I share some thoughts and reflections on my first year in business.

Several of my clients are in the process of either buying or selling a home. The top two questions for those who are buying are:

1. Should I buy a house now or should I wait?

2. How much house can I afford?

Here are some high-level thoughts.

A $600 check!

Maybe.

You probably heard about the recent stimulus bill that was signed into law late last year, aka the “Coronavirus stimulus 2.0 bill” or the “COVID-19 relief bill”.

The headliner of the bill was that many people would be getting a $600 check per family member. But there's a lot more than that in the 5,593-page, inspirationally-named Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

As we say goodbye (good riddance?) to 2020, we turn our gaze to 2021. New possibilities. New ideas. New resolutions. What are you hoping to accomplish during 2021? A common theme for New Year's resolutions is health. Losing weight. Gaining muscle. Eating better. Taking more vacation days. Finding a church.

I have a humble suggestion. How about tending to your financial health?