Trevor Hanson 
June closed out one of the strongest first halves in years. Small caps had their best start to a year since 1991, the Dow logged its best first half since 2021 and oil prices fell sharply as tensions with Iran eased. At the same time, inflation moved higher and the Federal Reserve, at Chair Kevin … Read more
There’s a number following you around that most people have never really looked in the eye. It shows up when you buy a car, refinance a house or apply for a credit card. And as retirement gets closer, a lot of people assume it stops mattering. The mortgage is nearly paid off, the borrowing years … Read more
Estate planning isn’t only for the ultra-wealthy, and it isn’t something to file away for later. It’s a core part of a complete financial life. At its best, it reduces stress, honors your wishes and protects the people you care about. This estate planning checklist breaks the work into five steps you can start before … Read more
There’s a specific kind of anxiety that comes from not knowing your number. Not your net worth, not your retirement number, just the smaller, more immediate one: how much cash should be sitting in the bank right now, waiting for something to go wrong. For business owners, that question has two answers, because you need … Read more
Most people put off calling a financial advisor for the same reason they put off calling a doctor. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s that they don’t know what’s about to happen to them. Will someone judge my spending? Will I be handed a stack of forms and a sales pitch? Will I walk … Read more
One of the most common questions people quietly carry is simple: “Am I on track for retirement?” For business owners, the usual answers rarely fit. Age-based benchmarks assume a steady paycheck, an employer 401(k) and a portfolio that holds most of your wealth. Owners often have none of those. Measuring retirement savings for business owners … Read more
Ask most people what their retirement plan is, and you’ll get one of two answers. Either a number, some version of “I need two million dollars,” or a shrug. Neither one is a plan. A number without a purpose behind it is just anxiety with more zeros, and a shrug is just anxiety without them. … Read more
May showed that strong markets and real uncertainty can exist at the same time. Technology stocks kept pushing markets higher, earnings beat expectations and the economy stayed resilient. Underneath, inflation persisted and interest rates climbed. In this May 2026 market update, we look at both sides of that story and what it means for long-term … Read more
April showed how quickly headlines can thicken the fog, and how quickly markets can look past it. Conflict in the Middle East dominated early in the month, but progress toward a ceasefire helped steady markets, and stocks posted one of their strongest months in years. In this April 2026 market update, we look at the … Read more
March felt turbulent. Stocks pulled back as geopolitical tension intensified and energy prices surged. Beneath the surface, though, markets weren’t unraveling. They were processing new information and repricing risk. In this March 2026 market update, we cover what drove the volatility, where interest rates stand and how diversified portfolios held up in the first quarter. … Read more