Investing 101 Class -- now with emojis!!

I'm excited to be partnering with the Coalition for a Better Acre to deliver my revamped Investing 101 workshop on Tuesday, October 18th in Lowell, MA.

Now with emojis!!

I’ll be presenting in the 1st floor community room at 517 Moody Street from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

The workshop is free, dinner will be served and you’ll have a chance to win a $25 Target gift card! Plus you’ll get 90 minutes of Jason unplugged.

I’ll answer questions and try to give practical, actionable advice in a pressure and judgment free zone. I hope you can join us.

You can check out the presentation slides, catch up on my blog posts or explore other educational videos that might help you formulate questions for the session.

Hope to see you there!

Sneak These 5 Things Into Your Summer Family Vacation

With the 4th of July celebrations in the books, family vacation season is in full swing! School is out and well, most kids are in no mood to learn. So here are 5 simple ways to sneak some learning and skill building into the family summer vacation.

1-- Put the kids in charge of navigation with an old school Rand McNally paper map. Yes, phones, GPS and digital maps are pretty much ubiquitous, but map reading and navigation is a skill that helps with a general sense of direction, decision making, attention to detail and inevitability, recovering from a mistake. You're on vacation, so taking the long way probably isn't that big of a deal. They may also discover features and landmarks of the surrounding area that they might not know existed and may want to explore further.

2-- Put the kids in charge of the ice cream budget. Sure, there's something special about going to the ice cream shoppe and the smell of fresh waffle cones, but if you're in a rental unit or a suite with a freezer, they may be surprised to learn how many ½ gallons they could buy for the equivalent budget of a trip or two to the ice cream shoppe.

Maybe let them keep the leftover budget? Doing so would help reinforce budgeting techniques, spending trade-offs and prioritization, skills we all need whether we are on vacation or not.

3-- Put the kids in charge of one evening of family activity that doesn't involve electronics or screen time. If you go in with a plan for at least one night for a family activity with no electronics or screen time, you may find that you get some excitement heading into the activity rather than the inevitable “do we have to” attitude. Having to negotiate, plan and then participate in the activity may also lead it to becoming a regular activity rather than a one off.

4-- Turn the trip to the museum into a scavenger hunt with a trip to the gift shop as a reward. Kids eyes typically roll at even the slightest mention of museum-going. But if you do little bit of advanced scouting and identify 8 or 10 items or spots that the kids need to find or questions that they need to find the answer to, they are much more likely to be engaged as they traverse the museum. And since a trip to the gift shop is all but certain, make it the reward for having completed the scavenger hunt.

5-- Have the kids navigate the airport. If you've got a plane change layover, have the kids read the monitors and figure out where to go. For all but the seasoned travel warriors, airport navigation can be tricky.

If they make a mistake, like reading the arrival screen instead of the departure screen and you have time to work through the mistake, do it. The experience will help with problem solving, navigation and getting comfortable getting around the airport. Then when you land, put them in charge of finding where the bags come out as well as getting out of the airport or to the car rental, both of which can be non-trivial matters in most airports.

Family summer vacations create all kinds of memories and with just a little bit of effort, we can sneak some skill building in there as well.

Read other J. Bradford blog posts here.

Ask us a question or set up an appointment here.

Danger, Will Robinson! I need how many months for an emergency fund?

Like the TV series Lost in Space, there are varying amounts of risk and danger in our financial lives and most of us understand that it is prudent to build an emergency fund.

The problem is that depending on who you talk to, the advice can range from a month or two to over a year’s worth of saving. Like many aspects of finance, a sit down discussion with a Financial Advisor can help, but in our effort to simplify the complex here at J. Bradford Investment Management, here is a simple chart with just three dimensions to consider

1)   How secure are you in your job?

2)   What is your lifestyle?

3)   Do you have other assets?

It’s a complicated answer because our lives are complicated and not everyone is in the same situation. So use this chart as a guide.

First, think about your job. If you’re happy and secure, you’ll need less. If you are worried about a layoff or planning to quit, you’ll need more. And in the latter case, it may be more than you think.

Next, think about your lifestyle. How much can you realistically cut back on? Many expenses are controllable, but many are not, like your mortgage, car payments, debt payments and others that you may not be able to scale back as much as you think. The more you can control your expenses, the less we recommend you’ll need.

Lastly, how much do you have in other assets? Do you have a liquid stock portfolio or other liquid assets (i.e. not home equity or a 401k) that you could draw upon in an emergency?

The point of an emergency fund is to hit that sweet spot of having a cushion for the unexpected, but also not over saving in investment vehicles that don’t earn much interest and losing out on the opportunity for your savings to grow.

There is also an element of personal preference and willingness to take risk in deciding how many months belong in your emergency fund. Some may look at these guidelines and then go a little higher or lower depending on their individual risk tolerance. That’s OK.

Wherever you land, liquid emergency funds should be in a money market account or bank certificates of deposit. You’ll pay a penalty if you break the CD early, but since this is for emergencies only, hopefully that’s not the case very often.

If you’d like to discuss your emergency fund we would be happy to provide a free consultation. Just click on the link below.

PLEASE REMEMBER:

- Investing and investment management involves risk, including the loss of your initial investment or any investment gains.

- Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

- This generic information is provided for educational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation for any individual to take a specific action.

- Please invest prudently and seek professional help from a financial advisor, investment manager, accountant, lawyer or other professional on matters that you are unsure of or that are unique to your personal circumstances.

- Financial Advisor and Investment Management Services provided by J. Bradford Investment Management, Nashua NH.

I Hate Mondays and I Hate It When My Financial Advisor Tells Me To...

You fill in the blank. I'm sure you've experienced it.

Maybe it was an advisor. Maybe it was your parents. Maybe it was a Billboard (I guess I do still look at those when I'm stuck in traffic). Maybe it was a TV talking head or maybe it was that once a year financial article that they slip into the fitness magazine while they are telling you not to eat onion rings.

Financial advice is everywhere and in today's world of unending lists of ways to improve ourselves, inevitably you've been told that some aspect of the way you are living your life needs to be adjusted for the sake of your financial situation!

There's the advice that says you have to give up Starbucks every day because it's the little things that matter and add up over time. Then there's the advice that says it's not the little things that matter, it's the big things that matter – like the big house and the new car and lavish vacations.

I once told my advisor I was on the way to the craft beer store to pick up a mixed six pack and he said "no, too expensive".

OK, fine, I'll fill a growler at the local brewery. "Way to buy local" he said, "but still too expensive on a per beer basis". Damn math people.

OK. I'll go to Costco and get a case of Sam Adams. "Close" he says, "get the 48 pack of Kirkland Light instead and you're good to go".

Hmmmm?! So I probably do save a bit of money on the 48 pack and I drink a whole lot less of it since I really don't care for light beer, but I'm totally miserable and my loathe for my advisor increases, and I'm my own financial advisor?!?!?

I stress two points when dealing with clients on budgeting.

1.   You need balance in your life and you should be the one to figure out those least painful places to find money in the budget. I'm not saying it's easy, but most us of can find the extra money if we make the effort.

2.   One of the biggest ways I can help you is to bring discipline to financial decisions that may be emotional. Whether they be budgeting decisions or investment decisions - many bad financial decisions get made when emotion creeps in.

Most advisors and advice columns are well-intentioned and trying to help, but it's HOW we communicate and motivate that matters a lot. And that's where many advisors fail. It's too preachy, unrealistic and not customized for your situation.

Our approach at J. Bradford Investment Management is very open and collaborative and I usually do more listening than communicating. I will try to help you make informed and disciplined financial decisions and give you my opinion as such, but if you happen to swing by the craft beer store on the way home, I just may join you.

PLEASE REMEMBER:

- Investing and investment management involves risk, including the loss of your initial investment or any investment gains.

- Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

- This generic information is provided for educational purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation for any individual to take a specific action.

- Please invest prudently and seek professional help from a financial advisor, investment manager, accountant, lawyer or other professional on matters that you are unsure of or that are unique to your personal circumstances.

- Financial Advisor and Investment Management Services provided by J. Bradford Investment Management, Nashua NH.