Clarus Blog

Socially responsible investing, otherwise known as impact or Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) investing, has been a hot topic in the news and a rapidly growing area of focus, especially among millennialswho are about to receive the largest intergenerationaltransferofwealthinhistory.Overthe next few years approximately 30 trillion dollars in inheritance money will move from baby boomers to millennialsandGenX’ers.Atatimewhenenvironmentalsu..

Although Russia’s murderous war on Ukraine overshadows all other news, the slaughter of Ukrainians is NOT the main risk to financial economic conditions...

A new survey of long-term care insurer rate increases offers a rare glimpse into an insurance sector with a history of problems for consumers.  Long-term care insurance (LTCI) is a relatively new type of insurance. For most of its 50-year history, insurers made overly optimistic assumptions about key factors in the price of their policies, including: how much to charge for policies how many policyholders would keep their policies in force ho..

Although Russia’s atrocious war on Ukraine overshadows all other news, the genocide of Ukrainians is not the main risk to financial economic conditions. Unlike Europe, the terrible events in Ukraine impacts the U.S. economy only marginally. The main risk to the U.S. economy and stock market is not what happens in Kyiv. The main risk to the U.S. is inflation, which is running at its highest one-year rate in 40 years.   Runaway inflatio..

Financial services giants make financial planning and wealth management sound very simple in slick TV ads, but it’s not.  Managing wealth requires knowing a lot about technical highly topics, like math, taxes and finance as well as history, psychology and how to communicate with loved ones about sensitive issues. This article highlights many of the topics of knowledge needed to manage wealth and why it’s so daunting without the help of a..

Snapping a seven-quarter win streak, the stock market suffered a 4.9% loss in the first quarter of 2022...

The American economy added 431,000 jobs in March, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6% from 3.8% in February. Here’s an update on the major happenings in the economy and stock market this past week.  With an increase of 431,000 employees in March, the nation now employs nearly as many people full-time as it did before the pandemic struck in February 2020. Employment is down by 1.6 million from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020...

As a financial planner, it is a lot of fun when a client is comfortable enough to discuss with me  their “pie in the sky” or “crazy” dreams and goals. This blog is an invitation to truly take some time for yourself revisit some old goals, and possibly find new ones. The world has long been a noisy place. Add the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and virtually every person on earth has been affected in one way or another. Mayo Cl..

I recently ran into a guy who collects bottles in my neighborhood. I like to talk to people from all walks of life, because I know there is a lot we can all learn from each other. Once he stopped by my home to collect some bottles and I got to talking to him, and he shared some of his dreams for himself. So, when I ran into him, I followed up with him to see how he was doing with accomplishing those goals. He shared that he had just bought a truc..

The hot topic right now is whether the recent pickup in inflation is transitory (as the Federal Reserve believes) or here to stay.  Inflation, defined as a rise in the prices of goods and services in an economy, reduces our purchasing power. If you can grow your money by at least the rate of inflation (approximately 2% per year right now), you can maintain your purchasing power.  Unfortunately, if you have checked the interest rate on y..

Where Will You Focus? My friend and I were talking, and he shared that the stock market was stressing him out. I chuckled a little and explained to him that wealth is built over time. We have been having these conversations over the course of the last year as he has started paying more attention to the stock market and making investments, purchasing a lot of the names that are widely talked about or that he hears about from his friends. He watche..

Nearly five years ago, I stepped out of my comfort zone and started writing a faith blog. In my mind I had no business writing, as I was not a writer. Today, I’ve written consistently over the last five years, and I’ve published three books in the process. Lately, I have been feeling the call to write about Faith and Finance as an ongoing topic. Do these topics even go together? I have discovered that they do, and so, I want to share with you..

When I first saw this picture, something clicked for me. I had recently published a blog post that was titled “Slow Progress is Still Progress”. My daughter and I had seen a man walking and she observed that he had only moved a short distance since we had first seen him, and I reminded her that “Slow Progress is Still Progress”. As I’m in the process of building a business, this is even more paramount for me to understand. The way my bu..

In my most recent articles, I wanted to start with some of the fundamentals. So, I’ve shared on creating a budget; teaching kids about finance; the power of compounding; just to name a few. As we go through each post together, I want to build on the fundamentals. If you’re already mastered the other topics, you’ll want to know: What’s next? Let’s talk about that… You have diligently worked and saved. You have retirement assets, person..

Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't have the strength. --Theodore Roosevelt Especially during challenging times our current realities are filled with ups and downs. Those ups and down can be related to stress, finances, emotions, health, and many other personal events that many of us experience at various times in our lives. There is no understating the total human impact of coronavirus, recent market volati..

Posted in collaboration by Chuck Rose, CIMA®, CFP® & Kaysian Gordon, MBA, CFP®, CPA on Thu, 04/09/2020 A Roth Conversion, simply defined, is taking some, or all, of your pretax retirement savings and transferring to a Roth IRA account. To recap, a Roth IRA, is a qualified retirement account where you have previously paid the taxes on the contributions, investments grow tax deferred and qualified withdrawals starting at 59 ½..

The recent market and economic response to the coronavirus has not only hit the financial markets hard, but also our personal day to day lives. This can cause stress for everyday savers as well as the most tenured professional investors. It seems our all of our focus at the moment is on surviving the short term- and we all should heavily focus on our families right now. We also challenge ourselves to take just a moment to look long term and think..

What you keep after taxes is paramount to your long-term success. Coordination of the many parts of your plan, with the professionals you trust, can deliver better outcomes. Please call us to discuss further and follow our progress this year as we explore simple behavioral concepts that can have a huge impact. www.clarusfinancial.com https://behaviorgap.com/..

Aligning your priorities and your focus can contribute to your long-term success. Even more important is working with your financial team to identify the things you can control that also matter. Please follow our progress this year as we explore simple behavioral concepts that can have a huge impact. https://www.clarusfinancial.com/ https://behaviorgap.com/..

(Pictured: the “Fathers of Behavioral Economics” Amos Tversky, left, and Daniel Kahneman, right.) Behavioral Finance is where the study of psychology meets with economics and finance. Recent studies, bestselling books from world class researchers and even Nobel Peace prizes suggest having a basic understanding of human behavior and our cognitive biases can help you succeed and stay successful as you plan and invest for your financial future. ..