Featured Post
What’s New in BrightPlan - Smart Budget Got Smarter
Our May release makes your BrightPlan Smart Budget™ even more powerful.
All Stories
Achieving Goals
What’s New in BrightPlan - Smart Budget Got Smarter
Last Fall we launched Smart Budget, an automated budgeting solution designed to help you gain...
Six ways the CARES Act can help you financially
The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act is a welcomed relief for...
Financial Wellness
Three ways to make the most of your Recovery Rebate check
91% of American families are estimated to receive a check from the US government as part of the $2...
Financial Wellness
Am I eligible for the $1,200 Recovery Rebate?
Millions of Americans will soon be receiving cash support from the government as part of the $2...
Investing
My company stock price is down. Is an ESPP still worth it?
An ESPP (short for Employer Stock Purchase Plan) is a super valuable benefit offered by your...
Investing
My company stock price is down. What should I do with my RSUs?
Many clients with Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) are looking at a lower stock price right now and...
Building Wealth
The Ultimate Checklist to Improving Your Finances — and Your Mental Well-Being
Financial health is so intimately connected to mental well-being. This checklist can show you how...
Financial Wellness
6 Ways You Can Take Advantage of the Down Market
Volatility and risk are part of the stock market experience – it’s why stocks produce higher...
Investing
Navigating a Bear Market with Goals-Based Investing
Mike Tyson famously said, “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” The pandemic...
Achieving Goals
What’s New in BrightPlan - Putting Budgeting Front and Center
Our most recent release brings your budget front and center. Now you can easily stay on top of your...
Investing
How Will the Coronavirus Impact Your Portfolio?
Global stock markets have fallen significantly this week in response to the spread of the...
Building Wealth
How to Increase Your Credit Score
Your credit score is a quick way to summarize your creditworthiness. The higher your score, the...
Plan For Life
What to Expect (With Your Finances) When You're Expecting
Five years ago, my wife and I found out we were having our first baby. This thrilling moment in our...
Financial Wellness
Three common ways to consolidate loans
After deciding debt consolidation may be right for you, you’re left with one more decision. Just...
Financial Wellness
When does debt consolidation make sense?
Debt consolidation is very popular these days. Every lender seems to want a crack at repackaging...
Financial Wellness
What is Debt Consolidation?
Imagine staring down multiple student loans, a few credit cards, and a car loan. Each loan has a...
Building Wealth
Your 2019 Year-End Financial Checklist
Do you like “Year-End” lists? Best movies of the year, top songs, cutest animals. We like lists...
Building Wealth
Getting the Most out of Your ESPP Part 2: Tax Considerations
In Part 1, we learned ESPP lingo, how the discount works, and contribution considerations. Now,...
Investing
Getting the Most Out of Your ESPP: Part 1
An ESPP (short for Employer Stock Purchase Plan) is a super valuable benefit offered by some...
Building Wealth
How an HSA Can Boost Your Retirement Savings
When it comes to picking a health insurance plan, the options can seem confusing. For years, I...
Plan For Life
The Case Against Permanent Life Insurance
Nearly everyone needs life insurance, but it’s easy to end up with a bad policy.
Investing
Time Beats Timing
In times of market volatility, it’s tempting to think about the possibility of buying and selling...
Achieving Goals
Planning for College Costs: A Roadmap
Whether you’re a parent, grandparent or student, the phrase “college tuition” comes with some...
Plan For Life
Disability Insurance: The Missing Piece of Your Financial Plan
Five years ago when my wife and I were expecting our first child, I was quick to get term life...
Investing
Our Advice in a Stock Market Swoon
We know that when markets drop it can be hard to stomach. As our Co-Chief Investment Officer, Peter...
Investing
4 Fund Fees Every Investor Should Know
As a Portfolio Analyst for Plancorp, I get a steady stream of emails from fund companies inviting...
Investing
Got Company Stock? Don't Fall for this Common Mistake
I meet with a lot of executives, managers, and other highly compensated employees of...
Investing
Can You Achieve Your Financial Goals? Ask Mr. Monte Carlo
Smart financial planning often means the timeline for your goals stretches decades into the future....
Investing
Automate Your Investing With Dollar Cost Averaging
When you look at the numbers, it’s tough for the average American looking to invest.
Investing
Lose Your Concentration: How To Protect Yourself from Single Stock Risk
If a single stock makes up 10% or more of your investment portfolio, or if a major decline in the...
Building Wealth
Should I Invest in a Traditional or a Roth IRA?
When funded early and consistently, an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) can be a cornerstone of...
Plan For Life
What's Your Relationship Status With Money?
Single, committed or complicated, we all have relationships with our money. And what better time to...
Achieving Goals
How Our Family Conquered Overspending on the Holidays
My wife and I got serious about budgeting the year we got married. We used the “envelope system”,...
Achieving Goals
The Best Way to Fund College Education: Intro to 529 Plans
Of all the options available for funding your children’s college, 529 plans are by far the most...
Building Wealth
What to Do With Your Old 401(k)
When you land a new job, you get to leave a lot behind. Your old boss, your stapler, and sometimes...
Achieving Goals
BrightPlan Recertified for Fiduciary Excellence (And Why You Should Care)
One of the first things I noticed when I started to work in this industry is how hard it is for the...
Investing
The Key Ingredient to a Balanced Portfolio
When I’m not busy reviewing client investment portfolios or researching fund options, in my spare...
Building Wealth
How Much Money to Put in Your Emergency Fund
Emergency funds. Everyone has heard of them, and most of us know we need to have cash ready for...
Plan For Life
What You Need to Know About Estate Planning
Developing and executing an estate plan is rarely at the top of anyone’s to-do list, but it’s one...
Building Wealth
The Top Five Benefits of Investing in a 401(k)
On average, Social Security replaces around 40% of income for retirees, and even less for high...
Plan For Life
Zestimate Your Home Value in BrightPlan
Your home is one of the biggest investments you’ll ever own, and that makes it a key part of your...
Building Wealth
The Best Way to Repay Your Debt: Debt Snowball or Debt Avalanche?
There are usually two ways to get to where you’re going, right? One may be the direct route on the...
Achieving Goals
BrightPlan Founder Marthin De Beer Nominated for Innovator of the Year
Sometimes it has to get personal to force thinking outside the box. Marthin De Beer had become...
Building Wealth
The Most Common 401(k) Mistakes People Make - And How to Fix Them
As a Retirement Plan Advisor for Plancorp, I spend a lot of my days talking to retirement plan...
Building Wealth
Savings Rate or Rate of Return? How to Focus Your Attention for Long-Term Financial Success
As a young professional, one of the best pieces of advice I received was to save and invest 15% of...
Plan For Life
How an Emergency Fund Helped Me Land My Dream Job
"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Amen to that, Forrest...
Plan For Life
7 Ways an Emergency Fund Makes You Wealthier
A rainy day fund. A safety net. There are many titles for an emergency fund, but you can consider...
Building Wealth
The Secret to Using Money to Buy Happiness
I’m always excited about getting a new iPhone.
Plan For Life
Student Loan Repayment, Simplified
Graduating from college is a fun and exciting time of life. For most students, this time also means...
Plan For Life
How to Automate Your Finances in 5 Easy Steps
Remember in high school when you had to read The Odyssey? Homer’s epic told the story of Odysseus’...
Investing
Reduce Investing Anxiety by Focusing on This One Value
The first time I went deep-sea fishing I learned a valuable lesson about focus. A few miles out to...
Building Wealth
What You Need to Understand About Owning Bonds
Interest rates have been on the rise since 2013, but the latest move by the 10-year U.S. Treasury...
Building Wealth
Going Global: Olympic Lessons in Investing
If you’re like me, the wrap up of this year’s Olympic games left you wondering: What do I watch on...
Achieving Goals
How to Prevent Lifestyle Creep
If you place your hand in a bowl of lukewarm water and start heating it, you’re unlikely to notice...
Achieving Goals
5 Advantages of Using Mutual Funds to Invest for Your Goals
I’ve always been a fan of simplicity. One of my goals in founding Plancorp in 1983 was to simplify...
Building Wealth
Court of Appeals Invalidates Fiduciary Rule. Is Your Advisor Putting You First?
I am thrilled that the fiduciary rule continues to be in the news. Sure, the Court's opinion is...
Plan For Life
How and Why I Gave My Four-Year-Old an Allowance
Last month, I started giving my four-year-old son an allowance.
Building Wealth
Women Are Better Savers than Men. Here's Why We Need to Invest, Too.
Picture yourself holding a crisp $100 bill in your hand. What sounds more appealing?
Achieving Goals
"DON'T PANIC." How I Stayed Calm When Stocks Fell
Last week SpaceX launched their first Falcon Heavy Rocket, releasing Elon Musk’s cherry-red...
Building Wealth
What to Do When the Stock Market Drops
Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 entered “correction territory,” meaning...
Achieving Goals
7 Reasons to Choose a Goals-Based Financial Plan
In many areas of our lives, the importance of goal-setting seems obvious. If you go on a diet, you...
Achieving Goals
5 Reasons to Open an IRA and Max it Out Every Year
The Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is perhaps the best retirement savings tool.
Achieving Goals
4 Steps to Improve Your Finances in 2018
The New Year brings with it new resolutions for self-improvement. Many people want to improve their...
Plan For Life
Is There Such a Thing as "Good" Debt?
Have you ever eaten too many donut holes? The first two or three send you to heaven. But as you eat...
Building Wealth
Keep This Much Cash in Savings and Not a Penny More
People say that cash is king, but they don’t always give their cash the royal treatment it...
Building Wealth
Year-End Tax Tips in Light of Tax Reform
This post was co-written with Wealth Manager Scott Ngo, CFP®, CPA, PFS The end of the year is...
Building Wealth
Should You Invest in Bitcoin?
The frenzy around cryptocurrencies only goes up by the day. All the excitement drives everyone from...
Plan For Life
How to Set Up Your Emergency Fund
Your emergency fund can help you cover the cost of life’s unpleasant surprises like medical bills,...
Plan For Life
Your Financial Advisor Should Put You First
Did you know not all financial professionals are required to work in your best interest? It sounds...
Building Wealth
Selecting Stars from the Investment Universe
There are 27,000 mutual funds, ETFs, and hedge funds available in the United States. Despite the...
Plan For Life
8 Reasons to Start Planning Your Next Vacation Right Now
In this always-on economy, taking time off to relax, rest and recharge has never been more vital to...
Achieving Goals
BrightPlan Launches, Bringing Fiduciary Advice to Everyone
After a venturous couple of years and many late nights and long weekends, I’m pleased to announce...
Achieving Goals
Spending Too Much? Here's What to Do
What do you think is the most common problem people have in the process of building wealth?
Achieving Goals
How Much Can I Afford?
One of the most frequent questions I get from friends and family is, "How much can I afford to...
Plan For Life
To Educate, Not Sell
In an industry where most are focused on driving sales and pitching products, investors have a...
Building Wealth
How Good is My 401(k) Plan?
When I meet with clients, I’m always amazed by the huge differences in quality between retirement...
Building Wealth
Where to Save for Retirement
One of the trickier decisions when saving for retirement is determining which accounts to...
Achieving Goals
Reverse Budgeting: How To Create A Budget That Actually Works
What if budgeting was quick rather than time consuming. Simple, not complex. Imagine a budget you...
Building Wealth
Should You Invest or Pay Down Debt?
BrightPlan is all about helping you set and achieve life and financial goals. As we prioritize...
Achieving Goals
How I Paid Off $28,000 of Student Loan Debt in 2 Years
I graduated from college in Spring of 2013 with dreams, a degree, and some serious debt. $27,993.86...
Building Wealth
4 Bad Reasons to Buy A Home
Economic commentators spent the last several years lamenting the fact that Millennial homeownership...
Building Wealth
Are You Financially Fit? Answer These Questions to Find Out
Until recently I couldn’t have told you how many steps I walked, how many calories I burned, or my...
Building Wealth
7 Ways To Relieve Financial Stress
In the American Psychological Association’s annual study on stress, the financial variety has...
Building Wealth
Stop Checking Your Investment Portfolio
Quit looking at your portfolio. You’ll be happier, and perhaps even wealthier over the long term....
Plan For Life
Announcement: Prumentum Group Raises $25M Series A
We marked an exciting milestone for Prumentum Group as we announced the close of a $25 Million...
Building Wealth
Three Critical Choices for Successful Investing
This is the final post of a series on the BrightPlan investment philosophy, our game plan to help...
Building Wealth
The Smart Way to Fund Your Future
This post is part of a series on the BrightPlan investment philosophy, our game plan to help you...
Plan For Life
Stop Obsessing About Making More Money, Focus on This Instead
Quora is an online community devoted to “bringing together people from different worlds to answer...
Plan For Life
Is it Possible to Enjoy Life Now and Still Save for Later?
Late in 2015, Elite Daily author Lauren Martin ignited a controversy with her blog post entitled,...
Building Wealth
What Should I Do With My Tax Refund?
Last year the IRS processed roughly 150 million tax returns, giving refunds to 73% of filers. The...
Plan For Life
Planning Ahead for Multiple Decades of Retirement
As life expectancy has increased the reality of retirement has changed dramatically. When the...
Building Wealth
Let the Market Work For You
Our first two investment philosophy posts outlined core tenets of our investment approach:
Building Wealth
Introduction to Evidence Based Investing
The next few posts outline BrightPlan’s core tenets in our investment philosophy; our playbook for...
Building Wealth
Don’t Try to Outguess the Market
In our first investment philosophy post we discussed the Efficient Market Hypothesis. The EMH leads...
Plan For Life
How Can Millennials Save More for Retirement?
Millennials face tough challenges when it comes to saving for retirement. The generation in their...
Achieving Goals
How to Actually Follow Through with Your Goals
It’s impossible to ignore the fact that people often have trouble following through with their...
Building Wealth
The First Question You Need to Ask Your Investment Advisor
Before ever investing with an investment advisor it’s important to know he or she has your best...
Building Wealth
One New Habit Could Change Your Financial Future
A few weeks into a New Year, I’ve taken stock of what I accomplished last year and how I hope to...
Giving Back
How to Change a Life - 5 Reasons to Give on #GivingTuesday
What is #GivingTuesday?
Achieving Goals
10 Inspiring Life Goals and the Awesome Bloggers Behind Them
We scoured the Internet and found inspirational bloggers who have undertaken audacious life goals....
Achieving Goals
The Day I Discovered the Beauty of Goal Setting
Growing up, much of our life is spent on someone else’s schedule. Each step of the path is often...
Building Wealth
How to Make a Financial Plan That Actually Works
Money management has never been a more fluid enterprise. We can now easily split a bill between...
Achieving Goals
Why Getting Inspired is the Critical First Step Toward Reaching Your Goals
Recently my wife Jordan and I were talking about one of my favorite topics: investing. As I...
Achieving Goals
To Reach Your Goals, Take Them One Step at a Time
After getting inspired to tackle your big goals, it is easy to become overwhelmed and distracted...
Achieving Goals
What We CAN’T Learn From Olympians
I am a self-professed Olympics nerd. I just spent (17) days watching the Olympics morning and night...
Plan For Life
How To Create A Simple And Effective Life Plan
A Life Plan is the foundation for your financial plans, driving how you need to spend, save, and...
Building Wealth
Have a Plan to Boost Your Investment Returns
When it comes to investment returns, it seems everyone wants to pick the perfect portfolio,...
Achieving Goals
Why Goal Setting May Be The Surest Route To Achieving Your Dreams
Some people just seem to have a knack for accomplishing whatever they set out to do, whether it’s...
Plan For Life
The Top 5 Benefits Of Having A Financial Plan
Ever been curious about how much money you’ll earn over the course of your lifetime? The United...
