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Monday, December 4, 2023

If you have been following the write-ups all year, you have been reading my top-rated films in several different genres. It only seems fitting as I write the final one for the year that we discuss the overall number one film on my...

Saturday, November 18, 2023

Amid the hustle and bustle of the holiday season it is easy to forget there are those who do not share the season’s revelry. The absence of a loved one casts a deep sadness no carol can sing away. Most people will, at some...

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

I want to recognize ALL United States veterans today. Thank you for your choice, dedication, sacrifice, and service. I want to recognize ALL United States veterans today. Thank you for your choice, dedication, sacrifice, and...

Monday, October 30, 2023

Spooky season is upon us. I have never been much of a Halloween guy. Free candy is always appreciated, but adult Dave has never really gone in for the costumes or the decorations or the scary movies. However – it seems like...

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

I hope my articles have been helpful for you over the last year and a half. It is my desire that you can make some progress in your own personal financial plan. Many have shared with me that they don’t believe they have enough...

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Monday, October 2, 2023

The 1950s were an odd time in filmmaking. World War II films were a cash cow for a while, but that was starting to fade. McCarthyism and blacklisting led to many of the most talented artists unable to make films. Cinematographers were...

Monday, September 4, 2023

Often when I make someone laugh – or more regularly when I say something that I think is hilarious and everyone else disagrees – I like to joke that I do comedy semi-professionally. While that has not actually been true for...

Friday, August 11, 2023

Why is China important to the World’s Economy? I’m not a political science major so I am not commentary on China’s politics, but I will try to give some insight into why China matters economically. Remember when...

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

"Forsaken for college...  A case for helping your children pay for college. Or not." Nostalgia just is not what it used to be. Looking back more than 20 years ago in my college days, I was blessed to have had a little help...

Monday, July 31, 2023

For most people, the year you turn 19 is not especially noteworthy. There is virtually nothing you can do at 19 that you couldn’t at 18 and you still have 21 to look forward to on the horizon. But in my case, the year I turned 19...

Friday, July 14, 2023

The decision between home-ownership and renting is a personal choice that depends on various factors such as financial situation, lifestyle preferences, long-term plans, and local real estate market conditions. Both options have their...

Monday, July 3, 2023

There are probably not too many people who do not know that I am an actor when I am not providing financial advice. That mostly started when I was 13 and first attended Camellot Academy (spelling is correct – don’t ask me)....

Monday, July 3, 2023

Financial Independence "What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Henry David Thoreau On July 4, 1776, the path of our collective identity, culture, and destiny as a...

Thursday, June 8, 2023

As we head into the halfway mark of the year, we thought it would be helpful to review several important performance factors that could prove useful in communications with clients. This year we have witnessed a significant and...

Monday, June 5, 2023

Pre-pandemic, one of my favorite activities was always pub trivia. Every week, a few friends and I would go to a bar for trivia competitions. (Fewer bars do it now and our preferred location closed, so somebody find me the best place...

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Bucket List VacationsWhether you are taking advantage of a break from school, looking for a quick getaway on a dime, building a business and finding it hard to get time away, or retired, there is something for everyone, in every season...

Monday, May 15, 2023

The cost of a college education has skyrocketed in recent years, leaving many students and/or parents unable to afford it without assistance. Financial aid is available, but it can be confusing to navigate for those who are new to...

Monday, May 8, 2023

We thought it would be prudent to discuss and share our thoughts on several market narratives that are gaining traction (at least from a media perspective):Possible recessionThe debt ceilingCertificates of DepositsPause in interest...

Friday, May 5, 2023

On National Nurses Day, we recognize and celebrate YOU!You watch over us as we come into this world, as we journey through it, and as we leave.You’re a daily witness to a thousand moments that matter in the cycle of life...the...

Thursday, May 4, 2023

LEGACY PLANNINGAre you prepared to pass on what you worked hard to grow?Emotionally, this is not something any of us is really ready for. It is difficult to wrap our minds around the complexity of change that our family would endure,...

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Getting this one posted a little late – profound apologies to both of my readers. Continuing through the “Best of” theme for 2023 leads me to interesting places. I backed into this month’s film simply because I...

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Imagine an account you can lock the IRS out of for the rest of your life, then watch as Albert Einstein’s 8th wonder of the world – compound interest – grows exponentially over the decades without paying taxes....

Monday, April 3, 2023

My year of bests finds me writing this on opening day of the 2023 baseball season, so it only seems fitting to take a look at my top-rated baseball movie of all time. Baseball and boxing have by far the most quality films of any sport....

Friday, March 10, 2023

Last month we spoke about Health, Auto, Homeowner’s and Renter’s Insurance.  I also talked about how financial planning is forward-looking. Insurance is an important part of a complete financial plan, not because it is...

Monday, March 6, 2023

This month we are focusing on Financial Planning and ultimately, Financial Goals!When setting financial goals, it may be helpful to categorize them in the following way:Defensive (Protection) Goals:Increase your “just in...

Saturday, March 4, 2023

As has become tradition and in keeping with my year of best in class, March is the month for my top movie of the year. In previous years, I feel like this choice has been a sentimental favorite for some reason but not truly an awards...

Thursday, February 23, 2023

According to FINRA, scams such as pig butchering schemes have grown dramatically in recent years, with individual investors sometimes losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is where some bad actors are co-opting the identities...

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Have you ever gotten into the car and before you put any thought into the drive, you were there?Driving to work over and over builds a habit, making your commute nearly effortless. Harnessing this power in how you save can add some...

Monday, January 30, 2023

Whenever a large enough group of people here about my list and ranking criteria, they always ask me to name my top rated…something. What is your top Nicolas Cage film? What is the highest rated teen comedy? (For the record, those...

Friday, January 20, 2023

When our daughters were young, they had one goal: to persuade us to get a dog!They looked up at us with their pleading little eyes and expressed such heartfelt anguish. This went on for months, maybe even a year.My husband protested....

Monday, January 2, 2023

I just came from our annual office tradition on the final work day of the year where we toast the achievements of the year that was and look towards the one to come. At this meeting, a co-worker noted that, no matter how good a year...

Monday, January 2, 2023

Soccer fans rejoiced worldwide as they cheered for their favorite teams in the World Cup last month.The thunderous, exultant cry of GOOOOOOAL is an adrenaline rush not to be missed. There is an innate joy in celebrating the success of...

Monday, December 5, 2022

December seems to bring a mix of holiday favorites and new attempted twists on those favorites. For whatever reason, the early holiday season makes me think of romantic comedies (many of which are set at Christmas but that feels weak...

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

As financial advisors, we find year end to be fast paced, often frantic as everyone tries to cram in celebrations, family, travel, holidays and a plethora of other busyness into a few short weeks. Here are 10 items to consider ...

Saturday, November 5, 2022

Acting legend Angela Lansbury passed away about a month ago. Most people who know her probably know her from either Murder, She Wrote or as the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast. My childhood was a little bit different, so I...

Saturday, October 1, 2022

I have been watching a fair amount of coverage of Hurricane Ian the past day or so, and much of the footage has been about heroes running into rising water to save dogs or cats. At the same time, I have been thinking about the...

Monday, September 5, 2022

Apparently, I am in a highly suggestive mood today. With no idea what I wanted to write about this month, I let fate determine the answer. In the craze surrounding Wordle, someone alerted me to a game called Framed (www.framed.wtf),...

Monday, August 1, 2022

August is my birthday month, so I am giving myself the gift of writing about a movie that I love irrationally. We all have things like that in our lives. Objectively we understand that this thing we love is probably not as great as we...

Monday, July 4, 2022

There are few screenwriters whose dialogue has as much punch and brilliance as Aaron Sorkin. I was reminded of this while watching Moneyball again the other day. He made a movie about the process of using analytics to make an average...

Monday, June 6, 2022

Searching for inspiration for this month’s review – and largely coming up empty – fate intervened and let me know that today (as I write this but not as you read this) was the 21st anniversary of the premiere of a...

Monday, May 2, 2022

Monday, April 4, 2022

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Friday, March 4, 2022

Monday, January 31, 2022

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Saturday, December 18, 2021

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Friday, December 3, 2021

December is a time for many things: various religious holidays, Kansas basketball to set my heart up for inevitable disappointment in March, and part 3 in my 4-part series of films that have fatherhood as a principal element. I clearly...

Monday, November 1, 2021

It is November – a time when most people are sitting down with family, so what better time to deliver part 2 in the 4-part series of films that have fatherhood as a principal element. This one may not immediately pop up in your...

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Last month was the culmination of the Summer of Surprise – four movies that surprised me in some way with the fourth one being a negative surprise. So now we begin another series of four films dealing with fathers. It was my...

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

I teased it last month and I am going to follow through – reminiscing all summer about movies that I thought would be nothing special and turned out to be very special made me want to revisit the alternative. How often do we go...

Monday, August 2, 2021

As noted in June, this is the third in a three-part series I am calling The Summer of Surprise. Something about each film I will write about in June, July, and August surprised me in a positive way (and I am toying with the idea of...

Thursday, July 1, 2021

As noted last month, this is the second in a three-part series I am calling The Summer of Surprise. Something about each film I will write about in June, July, and August surprised me in a positive way (and I am toying with the idea...

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

For the next three months, I am going to highlight three films that were big surprises to me – calling this The Summer of Surprise. Something about each film I’ll write about in June, July, and August surprised me in some...

Monday, May 3, 2021

Everyone has a list of movies that, when channel surfing (assuming people still do that in this age of streaming), you watch until the end no matter what when you find it happens to be on. For me, that list is fairly long, but I would...

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

A little later than usual this year, but it is time to talk about the Academy Awards. The Oscars will be given out on April 25th this year, which is a full two months later than usual to give more films the chance for a qualifying...

Monday, March 1, 2021

In what has now become a monthly tradition when lacking inspiration for which particular film to choose in a given month, I asked the weekly poker game what they would like me to write about. It was pointed out to me that The Rock...

Monday, February 1, 2021

I get a little fastidious when it comes to many things (seriously, watch me reheat shredded pork tacos sometime if you want to test that statement). One of the top areas where I am very picky about certain distinctions is when someone...

Saturday, January 2, 2021

I am a big fan of irony. Any time I can find true examples of it in the world, I try to celebrate it. I am not talking about the various ridiculous (and, for the record, not ironic) examples in the Alanis Morrisette song. I am talking...

Thursday, December 3, 2020

I have been hosting a regular poker game for the past 15 years. Many of the players in that game have been coming for most of those years. During quarantine, we had to stop the live games, but we have picked up the game in an online...

Sunday, November 1, 2020

My growing base of readers for this monthly column (initially my wife and my sister and now includes my mother as well – 50% increase in readership!) has informed me (mostly telepathically) that they do not want this to be a...

Monday, October 5, 2020

Online villains (bad actors) target passwords more so than any other means by which to maliciously gain access and information. Did you know that the average person today uses 191 online services and accounts that require login...

Friday, October 2, 2020

Last week my father turned 90 years old. As I thought about what to write about this month, I was thinking about my dad. Should I pick his favorite movie? No, because I have not been able to sit through Gunga Din. Should I pick Grumpy...

Friday, September 4, 2020

A genre that I have completely avoided thus far has been horror. It feels like we read about enough horror in the world on a daily basis that choosing a film from that genre might cut my readership down to 3 (from its undoubtedly...

Friday, July 31, 2020

All right. Enough. I have been messing around with fun movies that I love or sports movies that I like or underrated movies you should check out. It’s time to focus on great – pantheon great – films that I believe...

Saturday, July 4, 2020

Throughout the quarantine, I have been playing a regular online poker game once a week. I like to throw a mindless action movie on in the background as I play. It got me thinking about mindFUL action movies that are out there....

Friday, May 29, 2020

Maybe it is because I just watched the delightfully silly Celebrity Escape Room last night. Or maybe it is because one of the sub-themes of the movie is to use technology to bring down nations, which seems to be on my mind these days....

Monday, May 4, 2020

At the suggestion of my friends Mike (the biggest K-State sports fan I know) and Dan (whose birthday is today), I decided to focus on the world of sports on film this month. I am definitely missing sports right now and will forever be...

Friday, April 3, 2020

In reality, it has only been a month since my last posting – though I am sure we can all agree it has felt like a whole lot more than that. After discussing whether or not we should even post one this month, we decided that...

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

If COVID-19, or any other cause, has resulted in your unemployment, our colleagues at MFS have a concise outline of some things you can do to improve the situation. Click here to read.

Friday, February 28, 2020

After reviewing Jojo Rabbit last month – which is one of those films that may not be for everyone but I found brilliant – it seemed fitting to pivot to a film that I feel has universal appeal for the month of March. To...

Monday, February 10, 2020

The Coronavirus has brought about feelings of fear, uncertainty, and empathy from around the world. What are the impacts to financial markets and your portfolio? To an extent, risk can be assessed, measured, and managed. Uncertainty is...

Monday, February 10, 2020

Investors are often bombarded with economic data, company news, market information, and news headlines. Not only can this be overwhelming, but it can lead to confusion. The best analogy I’ve heard on this subject comes from...

Friday, January 31, 2020

With the Academy Awards right around the corner (tune in Sunday, February 9th), it seems fitting to make the first Martin Movie Monday review center around my favorite film for this year. In a year with several very good movies, my...

Friday, January 31, 2020

A significant percentage of Fit-To-Retire clients come into our office with a bucket list a mile-and-a-half long and no idea what to do with it. We call these folks “High Enthusiasm/Low Preparation” clients. And, we love...

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

As we head into election season, these terms will pop up. But what do they mean for the economy and for you? The aim of monetary policy is to manage inflation and economic growth using interest rates and other tools to influence the...

Friday, January 3, 2020

WARNING – This post has nothing to do with financial planning, money, or economics. This is the first post in what I plan to make into a monthly series. Outside the office, one of my primary interests is movies. Being a...

Friday, January 3, 2020

Call us greedy, but we’ve never thought Santa’s list should be limited to the kids. After all, children have such short attention spans. They may spend an hour on Christmas morning fawning over new toy cars, dolls and...

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Economic progress is typically measured by GDP growth. Here, we break it down into basic components that are easier to understand. GDP is the value of all final goods and services produced by a country’s economy. Investors...

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

“ The price of love is loss, but still we pay. We love anyway.” That quote from the musical Next to Normal illustrates the unfortunate side of having close relationships with our clients. We grieve with them when they lose...

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

What do I need to know before giving a financial gift to my loved one with special needs? The end of the year is approaching and the holidays are about to be in full swing. With that comes a time of gift-giving for family members....

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

As you take stock of your bountiful blessings this year, pay special attention to the categories into which those blessings fall: Good health and nutrition (gravy, mashed potatoes and pie notwithstanding), relationships with family...

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

As the holiday season approaches, it is timely to remind ourselves of the vulnerabilities that await us online should we fail to exercise diligence and vigilance while making merry online. The reality is, the end user (that's you and...

Monday, October 21, 2019

There is an old Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times.” We have low interest rates, low commodity prices, low unemployment, and low inflation, all of which are generally helpful inputs for economic growth....

Friday, October 18, 2019

During a recent panel discussion with Fit-to-Retire contributing authors, we discussed ways to motivate clients who score HIGH Preparedness / LOW Enthusiasm on their assessment in the Health & Nutrition category. A popular...

Friday, September 27, 2019

Each and every one of us needs to do our part to make sure that our online lives are kept safe and secure. That's what National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) – observed in October – is all about! Each October...

Friday, September 20, 2019

If you’re retiring from a career spent hunched in front of a glowing computer screen, it’s likely the last thing you’ll want to do is keep up with ever-changing technology. While we can all recognize the importance...

Friday, August 16, 2019

While recent market movements have been well-publicized, a few things that aren’t making the main headlines: Historically, just because the 2y - 10y treasury yields invert does not necessarily signal a recession unless the...

Thursday, August 15, 2019

If you look at your portfolio, you notice both growth and value stock investments. What’s the difference? Growth stocks are just that-stocks that are believed to have meaningful potential still to be realized. This could be due...

Thursday, August 15, 2019

For baby boomers, “finding yourself” was something we did in the ’60’s. By the time we reach our 60’s, we assume the question, “Who am I, man?” has been answered. But, it’s likely the...

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Just kidding. In no realm of the imagination would I write something on politics, something I am not educated on. However, we hear politicians talk all the time about raising or lowering taxes. Unfortunately, many Americans, including...

Friday, July 19, 2019

What if you stopped thinking about how you’re going to spend your money in retirement and started thinking about how you’re going to spend your time? It’s a simple but essential paradigm shift that puts retirement...

Monday, July 1, 2019

It was a different kind of Independence Day! 30 years ago today, Glenda and I moved into the empty offices that would become Prosperity Advisory Group. The two of us became CEO and Chief Operating Officer from the very start, Captains...

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Why do you want a copy of my tax return? We get this question sometimes from existing and potential clients. It puzzles me. Why wouldn’t you want your financial planner to get a copy of your tax returns, the main financial...

Thursday, June 6, 2019

CFP Board Research Shows Almost One-Third of Americans Aren’t Aware of their Employer Retirement Plan Options. According to a recent study conducted by the Certified Financial Planner Board, almost 3 out of 10 Americans do not...

Sunday, April 28, 2019

We are happy to announce that Dave Martin has earned his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation. Earning the CFP® designation signifies that an advisor has mastered a comprehensive and rigorous curriculum...

Friday, April 26, 2019

We are proud to announce that Paul Ewing has been named as a Financial Times Top 400 Adviser for the fifth consecutive year. This elite award is based on assets under management, growth, years of experience, compliance record,...

Friday, April 26, 2019

On April 10 and 11, Paul Ewing and Angela Brill were among a select group of advisors who provided financial planning advice and education to congressional staff on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Paul and Angela are advisory council...