Author: dwyerfinancstg

The Real Need For Speed “I feel the need, the need for speed.”-Pete “Maverick” MitchellHow about you? Well, you probably should. Why? Well inflation, longevity, health care, tax increases, the unexpected, you name it.  More money doesn’t necessarily solve any problem. But less money doesn’t help. We feel the real need for speed. We feel that our clients’ very important long-term money should be invested in a confident and intelligently speedy manner. It’s a long trip, even if you’ve been around for a while. “Long” is a very relative word. When Social Security was created in 1935, life expectancy was less than the SS retirement age of 65. Our oldest client was born in 1919 – before his mother was constitutionally allowed to vote – and died at 104. It’s…

Second (or more) Opinions A good financial advisor has opinions – thoughtful, considered, specific, grounded, accurate. We specialize in quality second (or more) opinions. Sometimes a third or fourth opinion is warranted. Everyone already has a “financial plan”. It is whatever you are currently doing/not doing financially. If it ain’t broke, we won’t try to fix it. However, if it could be improved in one or more significant ways, why not?“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”-Mark TwainOften very true. But, finding out the things you don’t know can sometimes be very valuable.“Time and tide wait for no man.”-St. Marher, 1225Or woman. And neither does money wait. So, let’s meet and, worst case, waste some time, so…

The Trouble With Money “There are only two things wrong with money: too much or too little.” -Charles Bukowski“Don’t get excited. It’s nothing but a symbol that costs practically nothing to print. There is no shortage of it at any time.”-Harold Diddlebock“Every problem is a distribution problem.” -E.T. DwyerAlas, way too often money gets in the way of Life. And, more often than not, the issue is too little money. So we will not address the bizarre issue of too much money- at least for now.So what's the secret? Many books claim to answer this question. We have read several of them. Some were helpful, others not so much. This is a short ramble, so here we go…It's pretty simple, but not that easy.Treat money with the respect it deserves.…

Financial Nonsense There is much nonsense in this wonderful but absurd world of ours. And a considerable amount of that nonsense seems to be financial. At Dwyer financial our modest ambition is pretty much limited to somehow reducing the level of financial nonsense that we encounter in our little corner of the world.“We have met the enemy and he is us.” -Pogo (Walt Kelly)“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” -GandhiAccording to a 2022 federal reserve study, in the world's largest wealth wealthiest country (the United States), 40% of Americans lack enough money to cover a $400 emergency expense. After our recent increase in inflation, the percentage is probably much higher.Being able to borrow money without adequate, or sometimes any collateral, seems to be the not-so-new normal,…

Thinking About Insurance Insurance is one of the most mis-understood, mis-used, mis-sold, mis-bought, mis-loved, mis-hated financial tools ever created. Insurance is perhaps the only thing we buy hoping that we never have to use it. An expensive but valuable spare tire that you have to make rental payments on every year just to keep it in your trunk. Just in case. We should only buy insurance to cover the big losses, to protect our big assets. Hopefully, a windshield is no big deal. Typical big losses: death/disability that create a big financial loss: liability lawsuits; big medical bills; big property losses. Typical big assets are earning ability, investments, business value, and homes. While Typical big insurances are life/disability, liability, medical, and home. The insurance industry is generally very secure and…

Luck Luck (also known as chance, fate, destiny, fortune, lot, accident, kismet) is a much bigger part of Life than we generally realize. Luck appears to come in only two flavors … good or bad. But, as the Sages remind us, who knows what is good and what is bad?Luck can be very fickle. And, our relationship to luck is very fickle, too. We tend to embrace and take credit for good luck, but we tend to disown bad luck and point the finger of blame elsewhere.For most Americans, our very first stroke of incredibly good luck is where we were born … the United States of America. Consider this: Half of the World’s human beings somehow live on $5 – or less – per day. Imagine! Most of “us”…

Crystal Ball Gazing “I don’t have a crystal ball, but …” Holy hocus-pocus, how many times have we heard that?!?Well, we actually do have a crystal ball … an expensive, top-rated model. But the darn thing don’t work. We’ve had it examined by several experts … adjusted, repositioned, reprogrammed, recalibrated, cleaned and polished. Still no foretelling, no telling of any kind, nothing. So, we have turned it into a hopefully harmless conversation piece, an attractive but useless financial relic.Trying to predict the future is un-necessary for, and sometimes detrimental to, successful financial decision-making and planning. By its very nature, the future is unknown, unknowable, uncertain. And that’s just fine. And a fact that we would all do well to get used to.Alas, some of us don’t like that reality, even…

Stuff There is an awful lot of stuff in our cluttered world … more than enoughso that everyone could have enough stuffto satisfy all reasonable needs for stuff.Alas, most of us have have way too much stuff.More stuff than we can use or need or really want or even afford.And, some go so far as to hoard.Now, stuff(ing) in the extreme is hoardingwhich is an official mental disorder(ing).Ah, but who among us sane folks lack too much stuff?Are not Life and Health and Time and Wealth the Real Stuff?If yes, then perhaps stock up on money stuff,‘cause, of those four, it’s the only one that is stockable stuff.And, with enough money stuff, no need to cling to that lesser stuff.And, properly invested, money stuff increases,unlike that lesser stuff which decreases.Look…

The Long And The Short Of It “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”-J. Wellington Wimpy“The future interests me – I’m going to spend the rest of my life there.”-Mark Twain“What you do today can change all the tomorrows of your life.”-Zig Ziglar“We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.”-R. Buckminster Fuller“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”-1 Corinthians 15:32“Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”-Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac)“In the long run we are all dead.”-John Maynard KeynesDwyer Financial is, in part, in the delayed gratification business. More accurately, the balancing the now-and-later gratification business. We just want, in a financial way, to help our clients allocate enough to the later gratification, while still leaving enough to the now gratification. This whole gratification…

Straining at Gnats But Swallowing Camels? More and more of our clients are doing better and better financially … to the point where they often seem to be rather less and less concerned about the performance (rate of return, tax efficiency, cost, suitability, etc.) of their important assets which have, of course, been central to creating their financial comfort. As a financial advisor/planner and a student of reality and rationality, I find this tendency to be very perplexing, which is why I am writing this little essay.Once you finally “have it made”, it is certainly okay to relax, to coast, to not spend your precious time working to earn money anymore and forevermore. However, your money arguably always needs to keep on keeping on into the indefinite, unknowable future. And,…