Posts by Brett Anderson

“If the future tax rate is higher than a calculated BETR, a conversion is generally considered financially sound.” — Vanguard Group   In my previous post, Roth Conversions; No Guarantees, Part 3 of 4, we discussed some of the risk factors that could potentially reduce or completely negate the benefit of front-loading taxes via the Roth…

“Uncertainty is the only certainty there is and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” — John Allen Paulos   Uncertain outcomes have always existed and always will. We live in a world defined by uncertainty and decision risk, and the goal of sound planning is not to eliminate it, but to…

“The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” — Milton Friedman   Just about every business has two objectives: first survival, then growth, achieved through the optimal and effective deployment of both current and future resources. When viewed through this lens, the same principle applies to your personal financial life. You are, in…

“A BETR analysis, however, offers a more complete way to think about the issue” — Vanguard Group   There is no more enjoyable dinner in my household than a meal that involves steak. My 12-year-old and I prefer ours medium rare, while my wife and 16-year-old choose whatever comes after well done. Irrespective of our…

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns; this is NOT investment advice and is meant to be educational in nature. “The market is always trying to price in events and earnings expectations roughly 3 to 30 months in advance, often looking past current, and backward-looking data.” — Ken Fisher   Stock prices are uncertain…

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns; this is NOT investment advice and is meant to be educational in nature. “People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.” ’95 — Joe F. Anderson   “trustworthy” is the name of the game…   Financial planning begins with trust, not tactics. Before…

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns; this is NOT investment advice and is meant to be educational in nature. “Money is not an invention of the state. It is not the product of a legislative act. Even the sanction of political authority is not necessary for its existence. Certain commodities came to be…

“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident, which everybody has decided not to see.” — Ayn Rand Not another post on the word “Fiduciary”! I get it everyone writes about it, and everyone says they’re a fiduciary. Well, they’re not, and I’ll do my best to explain why in as few words as…

Past performance is no guarantee of future returns; this is NOT investment advice and is meant to be educational in nature. “Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau..” — Irving Fisher PhD, Yale University, 1929   current stock market valuations, structural change, and the Federal Reserve “cure-all” … Shortly after Irving…

“You don’t have to outguess the market to beat it.” — David Booth Who am I? and how do I address perpetual uncertainty?… Professionally, I am an independent CFP® whose counsel is unaffected by quarterly employer earnings reports or sales-based scorecards. I do not sell products; I provide a service. My incentives are to ensure…