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Long-form on what actually matters.

Not blog posts. Not recycled market commentary. Proper research on the planning problems my clients actually face.

Short-Form Notes

Sharp takes in 60 seconds.

Quick observations on markets, planning, and the things most advisors won't say out loud. Click any to play.

The US has no plans to pay off their $39 trillion debt

The US has no plans to pay off their $39 trillion debt

What history says about debt this large. The Rome analogy.

My complete investment strategy

My complete investment strategy

A disciplined four-step process. Why I don't make decisions based on daily headlines.

20K to 1.1 million. A Roth IRA for your kid or grandkid

20K to 1.1 million. A Roth IRA for your kid or grandkid

One of the most forward-thinking decisions a parent or grandparent can make.

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The full library of white papers.

Deeper research on the topics my clients ask about most. Each paper is free to read, no email required, and each is grounded in the specific planning situations affluent households face most often.

Retirement Planning
Retirement · Math

Sequence of Return Risk

Two retirees with identical savings and identical average returns can end up in completely different places depending on when the down years arrive. The math the calculators hide.

8 min readRead →
 Retirement · Independent Thinking

Why the Pension System Doesn't Share Your Interests

What the institutional machinery behind your 401(k) is actually built to do. The fee layers, conflicts, and default settings that work against most participants.

9 min readRead →
Investment Strategy
Investing · Framework

How Professional Investors Read the Market

The full four-layer methodology. Economy, sentiment, market internals, valuation. How each layer gets scored. How the composite drives positioning.

10 min readRead →
 Valuation · Market History

The CAPE Ratio: What 150 Years of Market History Is Telling Investors Right Now

A historically elevated CAPE doesn't predict next month. It shapes the next decade. What a century of data says about starting-valuation's grip on long-term returns.

8 min readRead →
 Investor Protection

The Investment Traps That Keep Burning Investors

Non-traded REITs. Private credit sold to retail. Insurance-as-investment. Oil and gas partnerships. A tour of the products that quietly damage portfolios.

10 min readRead →
 Portfolio Strategy

What Sophisticated Capital Is Actually Doing

Why endowments and family offices use index funds selectively, not as a complete strategy. Five structural forces reshaping the case for purely passive investing.

10 min readRead →
Tax Strategy
Tax · Retirement

The Backdoor Roth IRA

How high earners can still access tax-free retirement growth when direct Roth contributions are out of reach. The mechanics, the pitfalls, and the pro-rata trap.

8 min readRead →
 Tax · Healthcare

The HSA: The Most Underused Account in the Tax Code

Deductible going in, growing tax-free, withdrawn tax-free for qualified expenses. How a health savings account becomes a triple-tax-advantaged wealth tool.

8 min readRead →
 Business Owners · Tax

The Cash Balance Plan

How some business owners contribute far beyond the 401(k) limit, pre-tax. A hybrid defined benefit plan that can move hundreds of thousands annually into qualified savings.

8 min readRead →
Estate & Legacy
Estate · Charitable

The Charitable Remainder Trust

Give to charity, keep an income stream, defer a capital gains bill. How a CRT actually works, and when it's the right tool.

9 min readRead →
 Estate · Blended Families

Protecting Your Legacy in a Second Marriage

Blended families, separate kids, shared assets. The combinations where even solid estate plans fall apart. The specific structures that keep your wishes intact.

9 min readRead →
 Planning · Estate

The Beneficiary Designation Problem That Undoes Estate Plans

Your will doesn't control your retirement accounts. The beneficiary form does. A stale form beats an up-to-date estate plan every single time.

8 min readRead →
Family Wealth & Behavior
Family · Legacy

Raising Capable Kids in a Wealthy Family

The real risk isn't too much money, it's the absence of productive struggle. Structures, conversations, and deliberate scarcity that produce heirs who can hold what gets handed to them.

7 min readRead →
 Planning · First Steps

Why Most People Don't Have a Plan

The wealth-building behaviors nobody teaches. And the specific mistakes, in a specific order, that explain why so many high earners still end up broke.

7 min readRead →
 Family · Wealth Transfer

Roth IRAs for Kids and Grandkids

How earned income and decades of compounding create extraordinary outcomes. Setting up Roth IRAs for children and grandchildren, the right way.

7 min readRead →
Life Transitions
Life Transitions

The Financial Landmines of Divorce

What changes the moment the decree is signed. Tax filing, beneficiaries, debt liability, the marriage-penalty math. How to prepare for the landing.

8 min readRead →
Macro & Markets
Macro · Wealth Preservation

The National Debt and the Quiet Tax of Inflation

What history suggests about debt, currency, and where real wealth tends to go when the math gets uncomfortable. Educational, not predictive.

7 min readRead →
Advisor Practice & Selection
Choosing an Advisor

What a Great Advisor Actually Does

The questions most clients never think to ask, and what a real answer sounds like. What comprehensive planning actually includes, and what to look for before you hire.

9 min readRead →
 Practice · Technology

Your Experience Is the Foundation. AI Is the Accelerator.

How AI changes the equation for experienced professionals. What it's good at, what it's bad at, and why hard-won judgment becomes more valuable, not less.

8 min readRead →
WEEKLY MARKET UPDATE

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Each week I write a short market update for clients and a small group of subscribers. Plain English. No jargon. What's actually moving and what it means. From time to time I'll also share new research, planning ideas, or other notes I think you'll find useful.

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