Hi, this is Bridget Sullivan Mermel. Why financial planning? Why fee-only? What's important to John Scherer and I? The first time John Scherer and I were able to connect when COVID restrictions were lifted, I drove up from Chicago and we filmed this video in his office in Middleton, a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin. John talks about his reaction to selling insurance, while I talk about Dad's stock club. Why is financial planning meaningful to us? Tune in to find out!

Kids benefit from Roth, just like grownups do. Children benefit from Roth can be great places to save money and it can be especially useful to start at early ages. In today’s episode learn how you can fund a Roth IRA for your children who are under age 18, what the rules and requirements are for kids to have Roth IRAs and what kind of access they will have to that money. We'll also compare Roth IRAs for kids to 529s and I Bonds. We'll also discuss how to use Roth IRAs to he

Recession-Proof Your Finances: Which gives better advice on recession-proofing your finances? Experts or ChatGPT? That's what we decided to figure out in this episode. We agree on several recession-proofing ideas. However, our most important tips are different than Chat GPT (whew!) John's firm website: https://www.trinfin.com For advisors around the US: https://www.acplanners.org/home Thanks for watching and please subscribe! TRANSCRIPT: Bridget: Hey, John, th

Financial planning can be compared to playing football in many ways. Just as a football team needs both an offense and a good defense, families need financial equivalents with good investment and tax planning, plus insurance and estate planning. Football teams often win ugly. They don't necessarily look great while doing it, or have a lot of excitement. It's important for them to stay on task and grind out victories. Good football teams win the games they're supposed to

Don’t Buy I Bonds. Here's 4 reasons why Series I Bonds might NOT be right for you, or right for you now. There are drawbacks to I Bonds that you want to be aware of before you buy them. By the end of this episode, you’ll know the four reasons you might not want to buy I Bonds. Check out these videos on Series I Bonds: What to expect: https://youtu.be/AYr_7L6OaCs I Bonds to Kids: https://youtu.be/KCOmYjZhUGM How the latest rate works: https://youtu.be/3_9uVBdrb0A #ac

Spending for Happiness: There are some easy ways to spend some money and get more happiness. In this video we talk about the ins and outs of one way--celebrating successes. It turns out that celebrating both big and small is a great way to improve relationships. We talk through the risks involved in telling people good news, celebrating with trips, big and small celebrations, plus why sharing the good news helps. #acpmemberwisdom #happiness 00:00 Welcome! 00:45 Beginni

Knowing if you want investment management vs financial planning is a key element in finding the right advice. In this episode, we gently sort out the marketing from the reality. You know the financial industry jargon zone: wealth Management, investment management, financial planning, fee-only, fee-based. These words mean something specific to regulators, but marketers throw them around to get your attention. What's a real person to do when the powerful combination of th

Smart Charitable Giving is relevant during this time of year. In this video, we talk about how to give money and save on taxes. Give more money in donations and pay less in tax; we love this formula. Be smart about your charity. If you're smart about charitable giving, you'll think before you give gifts of cash. We've got three tips that you should be aware of before you make any gifts of cash to charities. The tax savings could be huge. By the end of this episode, you

When the stock market goes down, we can immediately think--I don't like this. Someone must be to blame! We proceed, finding a blame-worth party. Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer take contrarian positions in this episode. First, is the stock market really bad? We talk through how we tell clients to judge the stock market. Second, who is to blame? Surely, the politicians, either Democrats or Republicans, are at fault here. One party must be better than the other

October 20th, 2022 is World Values Day. Everybody agrees that they want more happiness in their life. In honor of World Values Day, John Scherer and Bridget Sullivan Mermel talk about one of the keys to uncovering more happiness in your life while making the same amount of money (or more!): focusing on your values. Researchers have found that finding prioritizing your values and setting goals leads to a more meaningful life. Bridget puts this in terms of a deceptively simp

Inflation= Opportunity. There are upsides to inflation. Sure, inflation increases uncertainty and that makes people feel bad. But we're going to flip the script. We’ve got 3 ways to take advantage of inflation. In this video we’ll talk about how you can take the focus away from “I feel bad,” and switch the focus to “I’m making best use of the situation.” You’ll learn how to act on the things you can control. First tip: travel overseas. The dollar is high and other curr

We both have a No Budget No Problem philosophy. However, if you have this approach, you'll want to keep in mind the things in this video. At different stages in your life, budgeting is different. Figure out what your goal is. People's personalities and strengths differ, too. Some people have no problem tracking each expense. Other people feel like a failure when they, once again, fail at the process. At different income levels, the same person can take different app

A viewer asked--I Have Life Insurance Through Work. Is That Enough? What are the Pros and Cons of Group Term Life? We answer! Neither of us sell life insurance. We're fee-only financial planners who help make sure that clients don't have too much or too little life insurance. John Scherer is our resident life insurance expert. He explains how much people need and common guidelines. We talk about: Who needs life insurance"? Who might want life insurance, but don't need

Understanding how much money you need for financial independence isn't rocket science. What do you need to consider yourself a financial success? We talk about the basic calculator and the goal that most people have--whether conscious or not--of getting there by age 55. Financial Independence means that you can focus less on earning as much as possible and coast into retirement. For a lot of people that means cutting back, reducing work, or taking the dream job that m

Is your net worth by age 40 putting you on track to retire? This is an important question we often get as fee only financial planners. We know what our friends are doing--we see the kinds of cars they drive, the kind of houses they live in, and if they have boats or take expensive trips. We all have a guess at to how they're doing. But are you on track to retire? What's the benchmark for your net worth by age 40. We talk about what it is and why it is. In ACP, or the Allia

Is your net worth at 30 on the right track? We talk about how to figure that out. First, we talk about elements of net worth. What is important to include? What should you not include. Bridget doesn't include student loans most of the time, while John does. Judging from what they say, you can figure out what makes sense for you. Why do we focus on net worth and not investments? We take a more holistic approach. There are benefits to savings accounts, owning a home, and

Where to park money? A viewer inherited $500,000 and wanted to know. They (wisely) didn't want to take some time to decide exactly what to do with the money in the long term. But they wanted to know--where should they park the cash now? Where to park money is a question that applies when you're saving for any goal. It's not just about investing inherited money. It can be--where to park money to buy a house, or where to park money to buy a car. First, it's good when you

Is Inflation good or bad? Gas prices are up. We see them every time we drive down the street. On the news, they keep talking about inflation. If you're in retirement or thinking about retirement, it can be scary. Should it be scary? How should we think about this? John Scherer and Bridget Sullivan Mermel talk about a source of economic analysis they like--Full Stack Economics. (See below for links). Full Stack Economics does a nice job of breaking down inflation in no-h

If you're thinking about loaning money to a friend or family member, there are many things to keep in mind. Or, if you're thinking of borrowing money from a friend or family member, you want to make sure you're doing it effectively. You can protect yourself and your friendship or relationship while helping each other out and saving money. Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP(R) CPA and John Scherer CFP(R) talk through their (at least 4) tips for how to loan money to friends and fa

There are a lot of things for a new parent to think about when a baby is on the way, and financial planning is one of the big ones. In this episode we discuss why a new parent shouldn't worrying about some of the most common financial planning concerns and what really IS important to focus on when it comes to being financially prepared for a new baby. In addition to information for new parents we also include financial planning ideas for grandparents as well! Here's Br