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What is wealth? Wealth isn't your job, it's not how much money you have in the bank, it's not the car you drive, Wealth isn't the contents of your wallet. And no, wealth is not your Khakis. Wealth is freedom. Wealth is freedom - from...

What is Money?

Stephen (Steve) Kilpatrick BFA™ CFP®

Monday, September 9, 2024

Everywhere we look, we see articles, tv shows and websites talking about money. How to make money, how to save money, how to not lose money. But if you're looking to make money, isn't it important to know what money actually is? Is...

If there is anyone you care about that is seriously looking at private equity, you will want to show them an essay from Innovest's Sloan Smith and Natalie Miller: “Should investors worry about the lack of private equity...

On August 6th Richard Best Posted a brilliant essay on what to do before, during and after a market correction. Read it whenever you are concerned about market volatility (over a constantly rising long-term trendline).

3 election year myths debunked - Should an election year worry investors? Here’s why we don’t think so. Madison Faller, Global Investment StrategistShawn Snyder, Global Investment Strategist,Executive Director

Visualizing the Growth of $100, by Asset Class This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources. Which major asset...

Over 70% of Americans don't have a last will and testament...

How Real Estate is Suicide to Purchasing Power

Stephen (Steve) Kilpatrick BFA™ CFP®

Monday, April 1, 2024

In truth real estate can, slowly or quickly, destroy an investor’s purchasing power, create liquidity crises and increase portfolio risk substantially over an investor’s lifetime.

Will Rinehart’s article “Why I’m Out of Step with My Generation” is a powerful and moving statement of America's importance in today's world. Share this with every family member and friend.

To anyone who owns, or is considering owning a "Target Date" Mutual Fund or "Lifecycle" Fund in their 401k - versus an all-equity portfolio - please read the following exhaustive long-term study:

Your Purchasing Power Has Just Been Cut In Half

Stephen (Steve) Kilpatrick BFA™ CFP®

Thursday, March 23, 2023

  Source: DailyMail, Nick Murray, Jeremy Siegel

You Can Never Get Truth From Media

Stephen (Steve) Kilpatrick BFA™ CFP®

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

You can never get truth from media. You can only get news.

Visual Capitalist recently featured a fantastic infographic by James Eagle, that tracks, year-by-year since 1902, the changing make-up of the world’s reserve currencies.

Financial Experiences Courtesy of You By Thomas J. Stanley by Sarah S. Fallaw, Ph.D., Director of Research at AMI "What we know but sometimes ignore: that our behavior as parents is most likely going to be repeated by our children"....

How should real estate be considered in a portfolio when planning for retirement?

The media always like to focus headlines on the Tsunami Du Jour. This time it’s the flareup in gold prices, and the terror that seems to have provoked...

Miscalculating Risk: Confusing Scary With DangerousRealClear Politics, May 22, 2020 The coronavirus kills, everyone knows it. But this isn't the first deadly virus the world has seen, so what happened? Why did we react the way we did?...

The one thing we can say based on history, the U.S. economy is nothing if not resilient. There has been consistent growth and change despite all the “bad” news and end of the world threats that kept popping up. My earliest...

Real Estate can be a meaningful diversifier in a portfolio of financial assets. By itself, it's very difficult for an investor to have a diversified portfolio of real estate. Most holdings become pieces of a few similar assets...

I might be biased when I write this, but I believe I have the best clients any financial planner could ever wish for. If you are a client of Kilpatrick Advisors, and are reading this, we would like to thank (and congratulate) you! As I...

The Equifax data breach is not like other data breaches. According to Forbes: "A different kind of data was stolen -- data that very few organizations have and that can be used to cause a lot more damage". According to the New York...

Many of you are familiar with the Equifax data breach, which has potentially exposed 143 million Americans' personal information and Social Security numbers to outside sources. Many experts feel a credit freeze is the best way to...

Our understanding of how we utter fiscal decisions has helped exceptionally from the find and mixing of three discrete restraints- financials, psychology and neuroscience. Investigates in these three areas have come together to...

This article from CBS's Allan Roth illustrates clearly the absolute miracle of compound Interest. Enjoy! Steve Compound Interest - The Most Powerful Force in the Universe? Albert Einstein is said to have called "the power of compound...

The world's happiest investors share in a rich life Joe D'Allegro, special to CNBC.com Thursday, 27 Apr 2017 | 9:57 AM ETCNBC.com 66 SHARES Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy famously started "Anna Karenina" with the bold statement that all...

Joe D’Allegro, special to CNBC.com - https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/27/the-link-between-wealth-happiness-and-investing-success.html Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy famously started “Anna Karenina” with the bold statement...

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Humans are not robots. Passion and other inconsistent factors often influence our decisions. For precedent, you might know someone who invests in Facebook only because everyone he knows exerts it. Or you might know someone who refuses...

With recent news and media reporting a stream of uncertainty and chaos, it's natural for investors to feel emotional about recent market volatility and "risk" to their investments. It is natural and human to feel concern during...

Social Security: Maximizing Your Social Security BenefitsMost understand that waiting to claim Social Security benefits can result in higher monthly payments. However, many don’t know that there are other ways to maximize their...

Social Security: Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits Most understand that waiting to claim Social Security benefits can result in higher monthly payments. However, many don’t know that there are other ways to maximize their...

The Headline on "The Big Short" says "This is a True Story". ...

When we look at "The Markets" - what exactly are we looking at? Most of us are familiar with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ("The Dow"), The Nasdaq Composite and The Standard & Poor's 500 Index to name a few. But what the numbers we...

One of the most frequent questions I see media guests trying to answer relate to predicting future returns of the economy, the markets or future returns of a stock or mutual fund. This article addresses one form of prediction - the...

In this article we will look at the impact of inflation and purchasing power on real life. As we have seen in my previous article, the average joint retirement is 30 years, so let's look at the price of some basic items from 30 years...

The average joint retirement at age 62 or older is 30 years. In the long run - and that's the only rational way to invest - the only sane definition of money is purchasing power. Money loses some of its purchasing power every day...

It seems like every day when we look at a newspaper there is the "Apocalypse Du Jour". How can anyone who looks at the news (or their smartphone) not have fear from time to time? Fear is understandable. Acting on fear, however, is an...

It's safe to say we haven't recommended oil companies or funds to any of our clients over the last few years. Let me make clear this is not because we saw the recent oil crisis coming a long time ago, or even a short while ago. We do...

How Much Does China Influence the U.S. Economy? According to this recent report from Wells Fargo exports to China are only 7% of total U.S. Exports: http://www.realclearmarkets...

Many of us dream of a “worry-free” retirement. We have suited-up and showed-up in a tough world and we have survived. At a minimum we deserve fewer worries in retirement than we had when we were working. So what will our...