This July 4, why not consider issuing your own personal Declaration of Financial Independence? Here is one form it might take:

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I understand that fulfilling these rights requires the wise use of personal and financial resources, based on a balance of financial freedom and financial responsibility.

Therefore, I hereby make this personal Declaration of Financial Independence.

Article I. I declare my understanding that the ultimate responsibility for my financial well-being is mine alone. It is not borne by any government, organization, family member, or financial advisor. I understand that working with and learning from others is valuable, but my ability to provide financially for myself, my family, and my future depends primarily on my choices and my actions.

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While the rest of the world is preaching fiscal responsibility and vowing to slash government spending, the only country calling for a continuation of “borrow and spend” is the United States.  The Times of London reports that England is slashing government spending by up to 30% in some areas (with “only” 10% cuts in education and defense), but we hear no such talk of cutting spending by the administration. Only in the last week have we seen Congress become nervous about continuing the current spending, but there is little talk of actually cutting budgets.  Continue Reading »

Before you buy a new product, you do what you can to check out its features and research its reputation. You can test drive a car. You can try out a vacuum cleaner. Even if you want a watermelon, you can at least thump it.

Buying a service is much harder. You can’t test drive it, and there are never any guarantees you’ll be better off because of it. The attorney can’t promise you will win the lawsuit. Your doctor can’t promise to cure you or keep you from getting sick, and your accountant can’t guarantee you a lower tax bill.

Neither can a financial planner guarantee that you’ll become financially independent or you’ll never suffer market losses. Continue Reading »

If you’ve emailed Rick in the past five weeks and wondered why he didn’t respond to you, it may be because he didn’t get your email.

It’s come to our attention that as a result of our server failure five weeks ago one of Rick’s email addresses was misdirected.  If you’ve emailed Rick at rick@rickkahler.com, your message is floating around in cyberspace.  This address was Rick’s primary email address until about five years ago.  A lot of his long term clients never updated to his newer address.

The address is now working again, however, there is no way to recapture the thousands of emails he missed over the past five weeks.  If you think this may include yours, please contact us again.

CD’s have a viable place in most portfolios, but they aren’t about return.  CD’s are more about insurance than yield, at least in this financial environment.  To learn some valuable tips about using CD’s in your portfolio, read Jean Chatzky’s interview with Rick, postedon DailyFinance.com.  You’ll find the  full article at DailyFinance.

Paul and Teena were new clients.  “You know, our marriage is great except for one area, money.  When ever we talk about money we get into a fight, so we just don’t talk about it.”

Understanding money is a 21st century survival skill.  Having a good relationship with money is necessary for a successful coupleship.

Join us for a workshop that will explore many different patterns of how each partner relates to money and is impacted by their history around money. The Love, Money, and Marriage workshop will help participants connect with the deeper issues that drive their financial decisions.  This workshop will: Continue Reading »

If you are a owner of a small business engaged in delivering professional services who has an adjusted gross income of under $200,000 and thought you were going to skate by the massive income tax hikes coming in 2011 and 2013, think again.  Many business owners with salaries under $107,000 are about to see a significant increase in their taxes. Continue Reading »

Bryan flipped on MSNBC to catch the stock market’s closing numbers. It was March 9, 2009. A visibly shaken reporter was telling viewers the Dow Jones had fallen to 6547, its lowest closing in over thirteen years. Retirement accounts had lost trillions of dollars, and many experts expected the market to continue to fall.

Bryan’s heart raced; his hands began sweating. He grabbed the phone and ordered his investment advisor to sell all his investments and move everything to money market funds.

Psychologists, investment advisors, and neuroscientists will agree that what Bryan did wasn’t rational. He reacted to the decline of the stock market as if his life were in danger. Continue Reading »

“Obscene profits.” “Greedy oil companies preying on American consumers.” This was the tune blaring from the populist bandwagon just 18 months ago. Various commentators in the mainstream media, including FOX news, were condemning the oil companies for their high profits.

BP’s profit in 2008 was $25.6 billion, an all-time high and up 40% from the previous year. Many commentators claimed no company should be allowed to earn that much money and called for legislation to cap the size of oil company profits.

Yet what I never heard or saw reported was that the company had a value of $205.36 billion. The all-time high profit in 2008 represented a return on investment of 12%. Continue Reading »

Here’s an informative article on how people waste their money found in The Faster Times.  Sheryl Nance-Nash interviewed several money experts on ways people twitter away their hard-earned cash. One of the many areas she covers is advising people to look hard at investment products for hidden fees and commissions.

This includes mutual funds, insurance, structured notes, limited partnerships and annuities. “Cost can go as high as 10 percent of your initial investment to 5 percent a year. When you consider that an average return may be 7 percent, subtracting 5 percent in costs leaves a paltry 2 percent return to the investor,” points out certified financial planner Richard Kahler of the Kahler Financial Group.

 To someone investing $500,000, the cost of a bad investment could be $50,000 up front and $25,000 a year. “Of course, all of that is buried in fine print and not openly disclosed to you if you are dealing with a broker,” he adds.

You can read the rest of the article and Rick’s advice here.