What can we learn from the recent bank failures?

Here are three major takeaways:

1) Transfer cash over FDIC limits
2) Match investments with your time horizon
3) Importance of diversification

Figuring out your emergency supplies is important. But this post is about something that is just as – if not even more – important: having an emergency PLAN.

The emergency plan we came up with is a compilation of the best ideas and suggestions we found in our research. We felt like it was much more approachable for us as a family than many plans or forms we found online, and we hope you find it helpful.

And the best part? The only cost to put it together is our time.

You may have heard that President Biden recently signed the SECURE Act 2.0 into law. The good news is that there’s a lot in there that should be quite helpful to many of you. The bad news is that it makes the rules around retirement and tax planning even more complex than they already are.

Let’s take a look at the SEVEN new provisions that I think may provide the most benefit to people reading this blog.

Ready to be bored? Let’s dig in!   

Everyone does tax preparation, yes? Maybe you prepare your taxes yourself. Or maybe you hire a tax professional to do it for you.

But not too many people do tax planning.

Do you? Should you?

So, we had gathered all our emergency supplies! It was both exciting and overwhelming when we actually laid them all out.

Wow! Look at all this great stuff! Um…what in the world are we going to do with all of it?

The Biden administration announced the Student Debt Relief Plan recently, and with it came plenty of attention.

This article provides a quick synopsis of what the Plan contains, along with some warnings and deadlines.

Emergencies happen. Including while in a car.

Having a Car Emergency Kit helps us prepare for a wide variety of unexpected events that could happen on the road or away from home.

We can’t know when we might be stuck somewhere for an extended period of time, or when our car might break down, or when another kind of emergency might delay our plans, but a good car emergency kit can help us stay safe while we get where we need to go. With the right tools and supplies, it could even save our lives (or maybe our sanity?).

“We should have an emergency kit.”

We’ve been married for 20 years now and we’ve been saying that for…about 20 years now.

Natural disasters seem to be happening more and more often. A cyberattack causing a disruption to the power grid and/or other essential systems is more likely than ever. Even a nuclear attack doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. Any of these happening is out of our control.

But what IS in our control is putting together an emergency kit and plan so we aren’t completely unprepared if/when an emergency happens.

This is Part 1, which deals with how we decided what to include in our kit.

Spencer Financial Planning turned 2 years old yesterday!

In this blog post, I share some facts, non-facts, observations, and reflections regarding two years of providing financial planning services to my clients.

Spoiler alert: It has been amazing.

The stock market has taken us for a bit of a rough ride recently.

You might be wondering whether you should sell everything. To stop the bleeding.

The answer is fairly simple: Stick to your plan, as long as you have a well-balanced portfolio that’s appropriate for you.

Stock downturns are painful, but you still need to let stocks play their appropriate role in your portfolio.

A common piece of advice is to max out your pre-tax 401(k) while you work. You'll get a tax break now and then pay taxes on the money during retirement when you'll be in a lower tax bracket.

But, is that actually true?

How should you be invested during retirement? Where will your spending money come from? What happens if the stock markets go down? Are your investments safe enough? Let’s take a look at the concept of Investment Buckets.

It’s tax time! You’ve probably been receiving various tax forms in the mail and/or been getting emails saying your forms are available online.

You may be wondering whether you’ve received everything you’re supposed to receive. Should you go ahead and start working on your taxes now, or wait?

This chart may help shed some light on which tax forms you can expect to receive and when.

Behold. The end of the year is upon us.

If you’re anything like me, you probably lay in bed late at night wondering whether there are any additional last-minute strategies you can enact to optimize your finances.

That's how everyone thinks, right?

Good news! No need to miss out on your beauty sleep anymore, as there are some ideas below.

“Why do we do a thankful tree?”

Our 4-year-old asked the question as he stretched precariously to place a construction paper leaf on the highest branch he could reach.

We don’t know when we started the tradition. We think it was at least 10 years ago now. But every day between November 1 and Thanksgiving, each member of our family writes something they are thankful for on a construction paper leaf, and adds it to a “Thank Full” tree made of discarded branches.

— To read more about how gratitude, giving, and financial health intersect, click below.

FSAs can be fantastic tools to essentially get a discount/deduction on health care and/or dependent care. And there’s a temporary rule in effect for 2020-2021 that can allow even more flexibility.

U.S. Series I Savings Bonds (aka "I bonds") are making some waves in financial circles.

Why, you ask? Let’s see if we can unpack it a bit.

For those of you who pay attention to how much gets deposited into your checking account from your paychecks, you may have noticed that your pay randomly goes up at some point during the year.

There's a good chance it's due to Social Security.

There are a lot of proposals, rumors, and ideas floating around out there when it comes to tax reform.

The Biden administration and the House Ways and Means Committee recently released their respective proposed plans.

Let’s see, at a high level, what’s in there.

The experience of getting evacuated from our home recently due to a nearby fire got me thinking about the importance of homeowners insurance. What should you look out for when getting home insurance? What's important vs. what's not? Let’s dig in.