Welcome! Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer talk introduce themselves and talk about why they started the channel, Friends Talk Financial Planning.

TRANSCRIPT John: There's a lot of news out there about the coming boom in the economy. What to do about that? Find out on this episode of Friends Talk Financial Planning. Hi, I'm John Scherer, and I run a fee-only financial planning practice in Middleton, Wisconsin. Bridget: And I'm Bridget Sullivan Mermel. And I've got a fee-only financial planning practice in Chicago, Illinois. John, a lot of people are talking about this. It seems like maybe people that got stimulus chec

Considering a car loan? Most people consider the numbers. We talk about the money, but also talk about how the loan may make you feel. What about your wife or husband? It’s generally a sound idea to consider their emotions, too! In this episode, Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® discuss what the research reveals about how car purchases and car loans can make you happier or more miserable. Some people aim to be 10% happier than they are now. Learn

You got your tax form back from your tax preparer or printed it out from Turbo Tax. Now what? That’s we cover in this episode. You will learn: Our number one tip for how to save money after your taxes are done. Specific items that you should look for on your return. Why you should anyway. Why you might not want to look at your return. What to do if something doesn’t seem right. TRANSCRIPT What to Look for on Tax Return Bridget: Don't pay more in taxes than you're legally ob

Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® talk about when hiring help doing your tax return helps save you money and avoid an IRS disaster. This video should help you reduce the probability that you’re leaving money on the table by not taking every tax deduction available to you. It can be difficult to figure out—are your finances complex enough so you need tax help? Should a tax preparer be able to help you save taxes so that you come out ahead? What about

When we’re thinking about spending money, we make better decisions if we do the math. Yet, we resist. Maybe we were traumatized in our 6th grade math class. Maybe we can’t do math in our heads. Maybe we just don’t want to think that hard. But doing the math helps us make better decisions. The salespeople have done the math. They may speak in fractions, decimals, and monthly subscription services because that helps them sell more. That doesn’t mean all salespeople ar

Financial Planners Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® talk about how they use (and don’t use) a classic financial planning question: what would you do if you knew you had 5 years to live? They talk about how it helps inform couples and individuals figure out what brings most meaning and happiness into their lives. They talk about when the question works, how it works, and when it doesn’t work. John shares his client who blurted out—life wouldn’t seem

Stock market up or down—should I sell? Financial planners are often are asked, “The stock market is at an all time high. Should I sell?” Or conversely, “The market is down, should I sell?” John Scherer CFP® and Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA have different approaches on how they talk through this with clients and other people. John—uses a metaphor of farmer. John explains how thinking like a farmer with crops in the field and food in the pantry can help you with deal

With Reddit, Gamestop, Koss, Citadel, and Robinhood all involved—how do you sort it out? What does it mean for your investing? Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP ® talk about what they recommend that investors do. TRANSCRIPT Gamestop, Robinhood, and Your Money John : It's in the news. Everybody's talking about the short squeeze and what's going on in the market. What do you do about that stuff? Find out today on this episode of Friends Talk Financial Pl

Superbowl who’s going to win? What does it say about financial planning? Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® talk about some ideas that matter both with the big game and with one of your big games--your finances. TRANSCRIPT Super Bowl and Financial Planning John: The Super Bowl is coming up this weekend. Which team is going to win? How does that relate to financial planning? We'll talk about that and more on this episode of Friends Talk Financial Planning

John Scherer CFP® and Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA talk about what the research tells us about in how to pick gifts for your romantic partner. When is giving a gift a risk you want to take? When is NOT giving a card a risk you don’t want to take? If you aren’t in a couple, but someone has caught your eye --we talk about the fact that it’s okay to not take a risk. Then we talk about what type of risk you might want to take on Valentine’s Day. Old married couples—get tips o

Wondering what the stock market is going to do this year? John Scherer CFP(R) and Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP(R) CPA discuss John's predictions. We cover: How to think about the stock market How does the stock market's performance influence your life? Should you just take your 401(k) and head to Vegas? Join us for what we tell our clients and ourselves about what the stock market will do this year. TRANSCRIPT Market Predictions 2021 John: If you just knew what the stock ma

What does what you thinking about winning the lottery say about your life now? Let's take it a step further... So what if it really happens? Seriously. What would you do if you won the lottery? Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® talk about how to interpret your daydreams about winning the lottery. Then they detail next steps to take if you do actually win. The main steps are keys to many areas of financial planning. TRANSCRIPT Win at the Lottery (whe

Bridget Sullivan Mermel, CPF(R), CPA and John Scherer CFP(R) talk about how you can get more money with the stimulus money that passed recently. They cover the $600 stimulus checks, re-opening of PPP, or the Payroll Protection Plan, the new, 2021 version of PPP, and the new tax provisions for 2021. They specifically cover: How much to expect in stimulus checks Who is eligible for the new PPP loans The extension of unemployment benefits New tax provisions including extensi

Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP® CPA and John Scherer CFP® talk about how to form effective goals and establish new habits. Resolutions are often forgotten after a day or two. We talk about how to make changes in baby steps to improve your situation. TRANSCRIPT Habits and Goals: be effective and happy while improving your life Bridget: Resolutions. Making changes. It's that time of year, and Friends are Talking Financial Planning. How do we make changes and resolutions with ou

Improve your impact, your effectiveness, and feel good while making the world a better place. We discuss how to find good charities both near to where you live and far away, including looking at the following websites: https://www.guidestar.org/ https://www.charitynavigator.org/ https://www.givewell.org/ We talk about how to approach donating money proactively to optimize the good you do as well as the good you feel. TRANSCRIPT Donating Effectively: Improve your Impact, f

Do you ever struggle with how to give better gifts? There is a lot of research that tries to help. Bridget and John discuss more tips on giving better gifts. TRANSCRIPT Buying Gifts Part Two: Give Better Gifts John: Last time on Friends Talk Financial Planning, we talked about gift-giving strategies. This week, we're going to take your gift-giving to the next level and talk about advanced gift-giving strategies. Hi, I'm John Scherer, and I run a fee-only financial planning

Buying gifts can be difficult, but it doesn't have to be. In this episode Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP(R) CPA and John Scherer CFP(R) discuss what research reveals about how to buy gifts. Stop disappointing your loved ones. Improve your relationships. Figure out how to find happiness and meaning in the season. We talk about why gift giving can be difficult, as well as what to buy for people who don't want anything. Find happiness and joy in the season and relieve your s

Bridget Sullivan Mermel CFP(R), CPA and John Scherer CFP(R) discuss taking Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCD)s from IRAs. This is a technique that they are both using more in their practices to help people save money on taxes while giving money to charities. Tune in to understand how retirees can save money while making their Required Minimum Distributions. At Sullivan Mermel, Inc., we are fee-only financial planners located in Chicago, Illinois serving clients in Chi

CPA and CFP(R) Bridget Sullivan Mermel talks with CFP John Scherer about what they tell clients who are interested in buying silver and gold. With silver at all time highs and gold holding strong, more people are interested in the topic than ever! Also see Bridget's article on the topic here . TRANSCRIPT Gold and Silver: Is it Time to Buy? John: Gold and silver have been up over 50% the last two years. Does that mean we should invest in that? That's going to be our topic t

Are taxes going up? When? John Scherer and Bridget Sullivan Mermel are Friends talking about Financial Planning

Certified Financial Planners TM Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer discuss how to think through the emotions of a high stock market. Sometimes the stock market rising does mean it's a good time to adjust your investments. At other times, it makes most sense to stick with what you've been doing. Bridget and John help you understand which approach makes the most sense for you today. TRANSCRIPT Stock Market Up! Should I Sell? Bridget: The stock market’s high, but elect

Mortgage interest rates are at record lows, so we're getting this question a lot, and encouraging a lot of people to look into it! Our main example is a 500K mortgage that you got 10 years ago. Is it worth the effort to refinance now, when you've paid a lot of the interest already? We go over the advantages and disadvantages of refinancing with another 30 year mortgage or refinancing with a 20 year mortgage. Also check out t his related post that covers--what to ask mortga

How do elections effect the stock market? What should you do with your investments? Certified Financial PlannersTM Bridget Sullivan Mermel and John Scherer discuss how to think through this emotional time. TRANSCRIPT Stock market and election--does it matter? Bridget: Hi. We're going to talk about how much the upcoming election matters for your investments. My name is Bridget Sullivan Mermel, and I'm a fee-only financial planner in Chicago, Illinois. John: And I'm John Sc

Saving money on state income tax, property tax and other Chicago fees when you retire in Chicago--that's what Kyle Harvey and Anne...