Financial Planning To-Dos for Expecting Parents
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Release Date: 09/16/2022
Financial Risk Worth Taking (and Risks You Should Avoid)
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Is all risk bad? How can you tell how much risk you should take, or know when you’re not taking ENOUGH risk to earn the return you need? What’s more important, risk tolerance or risk capacity? With 2025's market volatility creating concern and worry for investors, we’re exploring why no investment worth making is without risk… and why trying to avoid all risk presents a danger to your ability to grow wealth. Discover the critical difference between risk tolerance (how comfortable you feel) and risk capacity (what you can actually afford to lose), and why this distinction changes...
info_outline
Want Money for Life? Start Here
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Looking for Beyond Finances? You're in the right place! Beyond Finances is now Money For Life, hosted by Eric Roberge, CFP and Kali Roberge. We’re back and focused on sharing our philosophy, action plans, and professional expertise on the financial planning strategies that help us, our clients, and now you, to create wealth that lasts a lifetime. In this episode we discuss why (and how) we focus on building financial planning strategies designed to create money for life, and share why it’s so important to approach money management in a way that allows you to enjoy life in the present –...
info_outline
How Kids Change You - and Your Financial Plan
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
How kids change you can be delightfully surprising. But they'll change your financial plan, too, in ways that might be challenging if you don't know how to adjust. In what is probably news to no one, things change when you have kids. You know your responsibilities will shift. Your schedule will probably get upended. The smaller your children are, the less personal freedom you may have. How you experience all this, however, is unknowable. The process itself alters who you are now, and how you perceive and react to your life with kids in ways that you could not have even imagined when you...
info_outline
Money Tips from a Boston Financial Planner: Your Questions, Answered
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
You asked - now we answer your specific financial questions and try to provide clarity on some money situations that lots of folks tend to find themselves in. We share our insights on: What to do with your money once you pay off debt, max out your retirement accounts, and aren't sure what to prioritize next How to think through a decision like investing in rental real estate properties What counts (and what DOESN'T) when talking about savings rates Where to put your cash if you want it to grow Which financial planning benchmarks you can use to determine if you're on track, ahead of the curve,...
info_outline
Protecting Family Wealth: How to Safeguard Your Assets and Your Stuff
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
In the last episode of our 3-part series on strategic planning for your finances is all about protecting family wealth. If you're working hard to build assets, you need to protect that growing net worth - and part of that is making sure you and your family will be financially stable no matter what curveballs you may face along the way. Instead of just running through "insurance 101" or defining parts of an estate plan, we're pulling back the curtain and showing you what a financial planner has for his personal finances and why he has it. We'll discuss the types of insurance policies we...
info_outline
Strategic Planning, Part II: Investment Management
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Welcome back to our series on strategic planning for your personal finances. Today's episode is part II, and we're covering all things investment management. We'll talk through what you need to do to put together a sound investment strategy for yourself, and the to-dos any investment manager should take (whether that's you as a DIYer, or an advisor who you hire to manage your assets for you). This episode covers: Assessing risk tolerance and risk capacity (and the difference between the two) Understanding your investment time horizon Allocating your assets correctly (which does NOT just...
info_outline
Using a Strategic Planning Process for Your Finances (Pt I)
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
You've heard the term "financial plan" or "financial planning" a million times. But what does it actually look like to go through that process? Today we're sharing how we construct strategic plans for personal finances. We'll take you to the inner workings of the framework and systems we use at Beyond Your Hammock to help people use their money as a tool to get more of what they want in life - now and into the future. This is part one of our series that will explain the 5 stages of the financial planning process: Setting goals, clarifying priorities, and stating values Building out iteration...
info_outline
How to Better Manage Bonus Money and Other Lump Sum Payments
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Do you earn bonuses, commissions, grants of equity comp, or other types of variable income? Then you better know not just how to manage it, but also how to optimize these lump sum cash inflows to help you achieve your goals and grow your wealth. In this episode, we'll explain how to do it. Join us as we discuss: What counts as "variable income," or what lump sums of money you may receive over time The number-one thing to do if you receive a lump sum of cash, from any source Two main methods to manage cash flow for solid but unpredictable income streams The mistakes to avoid when you receive...
info_outline
Should the SECURE 2.0 Act Change Your Financial Plan?
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
New rules and regulations pushed forward by the SECURE 2.0 Act might impact how your manage your money right now, and into the future. Here's what you need to know. The SECURE 2.0 Act is a 1.7 trillion dollar spending bill passed by Congress in 2022. This legislation's scope went far beyond "let's adjust how retirement plans work," but the details within the bill did change many rules relating to retirement plans Therefore, it changed the strategies you need to consider for managing yours as part of your overall financial plan. This conversation proves the point we make all the time: you...
info_outline
Managing Money Together: How to Handle Finances in Your Relationship
Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP
Money and marriage is a serious topic, if only because getting it wrong can lead to devastating results: 48% of people report fighting about money; 60% of those fights tend to be about spending. 41% of Gen Xers and 29% of baby boomers surveyed by TD Ameritrade report that money was a direct cause of a divorce, and some research shows that disagremeents about money are a leading predictor of future divorce. So today, we're not just talking about money. We might be saving your marriage, too! We'll share the best strategies for managing money as a couple. We'll not just provide some big-picture...
info_outlineHaving a baby or adding more children to the family is a big decision - and there are some major financial implications to this life milestone. On today's episode, we're sharing our own experience of the financial planning considerations we took into account when deciding if we wanted children - and how we financially prepared once we knew we wanted to have a baby.
We discuss the practical considerations, from health insurance to cash flow and emergency funds, as well as how kids might impact your long-term financial plan (and whether or not those are tradeoffs you want to accept).
We also look at - regardless of where you fall on the having-kids or child-free debate - you need to create wiggle room and the ability to make an unexpected left turn int oyour financial plan (as well as how to do just that).