Beacon Wealthcare

07 Jul 2022 What Kind of Vehicle Should My Family Buy?

Posted at 15:13h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

Last summer, I told you about how my beloved 2008 Honda Accord was quickly moving towards clunker status. Since then, I've managed to eliminate the persistent, wrench shaped dashboard indicator light and the engine no longer revs too high when it idles. However, the pistons...

23 Jun 2022 Inflation and Values

Posted at 14:37h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

Two big themes were on my mind last weekend: inflation and values. Why the former might occupy space in my mind is pretty self-explanatory--it's hard to take a breath without hearing/noticing how fast prices are rising. Ballooning costs have a macro-impact as well as a...

16 Jun 2022 Puke Days

Posted at 17:56h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

In Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, there is a phrase—really a mantra or incantation—used by the main character and his mother at various times when they are facing particularly challenging circumstances: "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will...

09 Jun 2022 Kiddie Tax 101

Posted at 20:24h in The Friday Brief by Ellen Martin

If you’re on any form of social media, you most likely saw pictures and videos circulating from last weekend's Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth. My favorite image of the bunch is of 4-year old Prince Louis making faces at his mom, the beautiful Kate...

02 Jun 2022 This Time It’s Different

Posted at 16:51h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

I graduated from college in 1995 with a degree in economics and finance. At that time, only about 14% of Americans used the web (and only 20% of them went online every day), Amazon had just opened for business and the most popular web destinations...

26 May 2022 Up and to the Right

Posted at 16:55h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

We all want the investment that does this: A smooth and steady march up-and-to-the-right. The challenge is the stock market actually does this: Where things get interesting is when you take the blue line from my hypothetical investment and overlay it onto the second chart showing the actual...

18 May 2022 The Thief of Joy

Posted at 19:39h in The Friday Brief by Ellen Martin

Several years ago, a friend called me “book-ish” – which felt like an insult at the time. It may have been said both in trust and in jest, and I may have also given the strong reaction that they were hoping to get – but...

12 May 2022 The One with the Down Market

Posted at 13:30h in The Friday Brief by Jared Korver, CPA, CFP®

I want to state, here at the outset and for the record, that the TV show Friends is the most overrated show of all time. But I am borrowing from that sorry show to craft the title of this blog, as each episode is titled with the...

05 May 2022 Series I Savings Bonds Paying 9.62%

Posted at 15:14h in The Friday Brief by Geoff Hall, CFP®, RICP®

I can’t think of many good things to say about the high rate of inflation we’re currently experiencing in our economy. That’s why on Monday, when the Department of the Treasury announced that Series I savings bonds are now paying an annual rate of 9.62%...

28 Apr 2022 Treasury Bonds and the Beauty of Correlation

Posted at 17:17h in The Friday Brief by Ryan Smith, CFP®, RICP®, CTS™, MSFP

Four weeks ago, I argued that the correction the stock market experienced earlier this year was entirely normal. What that brief omitted was any real discussion of the bond market which, as you may have heard, is having its own problems. The instigator of most...

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