“What are your ‘Money Scripts’?” The Wall Street Journal asks this question in an article by Thomas Coyle published in the December 9 online issue. Coyle based much of the piece on interviews with Rick and with therapist Dave Jetson, who offers financial therapy to KFG clients.

Read the complete article here.

The KFG blog has been chosen as one of the Top Ten financial blogs for 2012 by Echelon Business Solutions. Readers of the company’s blog, The Inbound Marketing Insider, were asked to nominate their favorite blogs for consideration. We appreciate the nominations and are pleased to find ourselves in good company that includes former KFG associate Alan Moore.

The United States has experienced a “remarkable plunge in economic freedom” over the past ten years. This is the conclusion of the 2012 Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report, by Gwartney, Lawson, and Hall.

The report measures the degree to which a country supports the cornerstones of economic freedom, defined as personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and the security of privately owned property. It surveys forty-two variables used to construct an index that measures 144 countries in five areas of economic freedom: the size of government, property rights, sound money, freedom to trade, and regulation.

For 20 years, from 1980 to 2000, the U.S. usually ranked as the third freest economy in the world behind Hong Kong and Singapore. By 2005 the U.S. fell to eighth, and by 2010 it was ranked 18th. Continue Reading »

“Rick Kahler tried to buy his first house when he was nine. His father wouldn’t let him.”

That’s the opening sentence of an article by Christina Nelson, based on an interview with Rick, published in the June 2012 issue of the Journal of Financial Planning. In the article, part of a Journal series called “10 Questions With Noteworthy People,” Rick discusses using technology in his practice, financial therapy, and his 30-year financial planning career. He also reviews his investment philosophy. It has evolved since his ninth-grade venture into buying stocks, which taught him first-hand the risks of investing in stocks directly.

Read the entire article here.

“Rick Kahler’s blog communicates insights on investing through a tight coordination of text, video, and audio.” That’s what John Kador from the online Registered Rep. magazine had to say about the KFG blog in naming it one of the top ten advisor blogs for 2011.

His article, which you can read here, has some good advice about blogging. It would be useful information for anyone, not just financial advisors, who is considering a business-related blog or website.

It’s an honor to be named one of the top ten sites, and I’m grateful to the staff members who help keep the blog and website functioning smoothly. Thank you, as well, to all the readers who take time to comment. Your questions and insights add a great deal to the site, and I appreciate them.

For a long time investment advisors have relied on commodities as one of the asset classes in a diversified portfolio that is “uncorrelated” with stocks. In other words, commodity prices tended to increase when stock values decreased, and vice versa.
In the past few years, though, commodities have begun moving more in line with securities. For this reason, Rick has begun recommending clients invest less in commodities and more in managed futures to keep their portfolios diversified.
Financial writer Daisy Maxey interviewed Rick for an article discussing this trend. The piece, “Commodities track broad market more closely,” was published online in MarketWatch on October 12, 2011. You can read it here.

If I had high blood pressure, I would have to give up listening to Sunday morning news shows. I’ve never figured out how politicians can so convincingly weave false information and partial truths into spin that they deliver with a straight face.

One of the more popular partial truths is that 47% of Americans don’t pay taxes. While it is true that they don’t pay federal income taxes, they do pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on their wages. They also pay sales taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, and a host of other taxes.

It is also true that the top 1% of wage earners pay 38% of all federal income taxes. Yet income taxes account for about half of the revenue raised by the federal government. A large portion of federal revenues come from Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance taxes. The bottom 90% of wage earners pay the bulk of the Social Security taxes, which apply on the first $106,800 of wages. Continue Reading »

An unexpected trend has emerged due in large part to the economy. Adult children are asking to move back in with their aging parents, and the parents are saying “yes.” Most baby boomers do not have adequate savings, so the financial burdens of taking care of their adult children is taking its toll on their retirement savings.

In a recent study by TD Ameritrade, 57% of parents are willing to support their adult children even if it means taking away from their retirement savings, and 54% have had their adult children living with them for 3 months or longer. 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 »

The new health care bill will affect the daily lives and wallets of millions of Americans. While we don’t know yet precisely what that impact will be or even the full breadth of what is in the bill, it isn’t too early to consider some of the possibilities and start thinking about ways to deal with them.

Here are a few of the expected consequences of the health care bill, along with some possible financial planning strategies for managing them. Click here to read the full article.