When asked what a financial life planner does, I often reply that I help people achieve financial wellness. Financial wellness is far more than just having enough money. Some of its most important components include a sense of prosperity, a history of wise financial decisions, and enough money to support one’s health and happiness.

However, financial wellness is not our ultimate goal as human beings. There is a greater level to which we aspire, that of well-being.

While it is possible to have financial wellness without having well-being, one can’t have well-being without health, happiness, and prosperity. Continue Reading »

I am hearing a lot about gold these days and so are my clients.  George Soros is reported to have sold all his U.S. stocks and switched to gold. Glenn Beck says you should own a lot of it.  Even Rachel Beck, normally a well reasoned financial columnist, recently wrote a column that would leave the reader to believe they should abandon stocks and split their portfolio between bonds and gold.

An email from a client today wondered if he should follow Beck’s advise.  I would not recommend it.  Remember the last time the pundits said financial instruments were dead?  It was in the late ’70′s when the rage was to buy gold, silver and real estate and load up on dried food.  Stocks had produced poor returns for a decade or more and were dead, just as useless as a dollar bill. Continue Reading »

Carl was 62 when he decided it was time to retire. I asked why. He said all his friends were retiring and he figured he wasn’t getting any younger and thought he would, too.

The next time I saw Carl, I asked how he was enjoying retirement. “What retirement?” he said. “I was so bored, I called my old boss and got my job back.”

In my years as I financial planner, I’ve seen both good and bad reasons to retire. Here are some of the more common bad reasons:

• “I’m at retirement age.” In the US, you’re generally not required by law to retire at 65. I have clients who are over 80, still in good health, and still working because they enjoy it.

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It appears that South Dakota trust law is even better than I thought.  In a response to my previous blog on SD trust law, Tom Simmons, an attorney practicing in Rapid City, SD, explained to me that I missed the latest improvement to SD trusts. 

Tom explains that in the administration of a living trust after the grantor’s death, attorney’s often open a probate proceeding purely for the purpose of running the notice to creditors in the newspaper in order to shorten the statue of limitations for claims against an estate from several years to just 4 months. 

Simmons thought if the law was changed, this objective could be accomplished without having to open a probate.  So, Tom being the proactive innovator that he is, drafted a proposed statute to authorize published notice to creditors without probate.  Continue Reading »

If you are an employer, you have until October 1st to set up a SIMPLE IRA for you and your employees.  Unlike most other retirement plans where an employer has until December 31st to set up the plan, SIMPLE IRA’s must be set up much sooner.

A SIMPLE IRA is a great option for employers looking for an inexpensive retirement plan that allows employee contributions of up to $14,000 each.  The employers only cost is to make matching contributions of up to 3%.

If you are a KFG client and are thinking of estabilshing or improving your retirement plan for 2010, give us a call today at 605-343-1400.

…and not heard from us for the past 10 days, it’s because we didn’t get it. 

We just found out today that our latest exchange server migration resulted in our voice mails being sent to cyberspace.   We are told there is no way to recover them.

So, if you called and left us a voice message between August 4th and August 17th, please call us back.  We are so sorry for this inconvenience.

I’ve long extolled the virtues of South Dakota to my friends around the country.  Typically my pontificating falls on deaf ears.  They visualize South Dakota as being a barren waste land next to the Arctic Circle, void of paved roads, airports, and the Internet.   If only they knew!

Outside of having the second strongest economy in the US, no income tax, no corporate tax, no inheritance tax, and continuously rated as one of the top “business friendly” states in the nation, we are also the best state in which to establish a trust.

You can find out why trust companies are abandoning other states to set up shop in South Dakota by clicking here.

Recently I was explaining to one of my staff members that I had decided to drop one of my two fitness studio memberships and save about $40 a month. She said, “So you’ve chosen to “downgrade your lifestyle to upgrade your future.”

It was a perfect phrase for the process of achieving financial independence.

People who become financially independent successfully internalize the future financial benefits of living frugally now. They understand that building financial security means never living the maximum lifestyle you can afford. Most successful financial frugalists have learned to live on less than 75% of their take-home pay.

Continue Reading »

“Our relationship is great in every department, except money.  We just can’t talk too long about money before getting into an argument.”

If this statement is true for your coupleship, help is on the way.  Money is the second leading cause of divorce.  An investment into understanding and working through the underlying issues around money can circumvent a very expensive divorce, along with the added benefit of enhancing the relationship.

Dave Jetson and I have partnered together to offer a most unique experience for couples to deal with money issues. The”Love, Couples and Money” workshop will help couples better understand their relationship as individuals and as a couple around money. Continue Reading »

“So just where does happiness reside for consumers?  Scholars and researchers haven’t determined whether Armani will put a bigger smile on your face than Dolce & Gabbana. But they have found that our types of purchases, their size and frequency, and even the timing of the spending all affect long-term happiness.

One major finding is that spending money for an experience — concert tickets, French lessons, sushi-rolling classes, a hotel room in Monaco — produces longer-lasting satisfaction than spending money on plain old stuff.  ‘It’s better to go on a vacation than buy a new couch’ is basically the idea.” 

Stephani Rosenbloom, a reporter for the New York Times, explored this issue in an excellent article that appeared in the August 7th issue.  You can read the whole article here.