I was excited to be on the College and Career Conversations with Dr. B podcast. I had a wonderful time talking with Dr. Belinda Wilkerson of Steps to the Future LLC. Suppose you have a young person thinking about going to college and are unsure of their career choice. I encourage you to have them check out College and Career Conversations with Dr. B, where Dr. B has a chat with different professionals about how they go prepared and the requirements of their career choice.

The post On the College and Career Conversations w Dr. B Podcast first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.

Here at Stalwart Financial Planning we are excited to introduce a new offering available at www.StalwartPlanning.com.  This new offering is the EVENTS tab.  The EVENTS tab will give you information on upcoming financial talks that will be conducted by Isaac R. Allen, CFP®.  The events will be called “Chats with Isaac”.  The Fireside Chats of Theodore Roosevelt they are not.  But if you live in the Fayetteville NC, area, Chats with Isaac will be candid, honest and to the point.

The Chats with Isaac will be small, social gatherings where the topic will be presented and covered at a pace for everyone to enjoy.  Isaac will present you with the facts, let you know about the hype and hopefully clue you in so you can identify the fiction.  While Isaac is sure to present the facts, you should not be afraid to ask Isaac his opinion.  He will give it to you!  But, he will be sure to let you know when his opinion is not fact but just his view on the topic.

Here are some of the reasons you might want to attend one of the Chats with Isaac seminars.

• You are interested in the topic being presented – Retirement Planning, College Planning, Social Security Strategies, Bond Strategies and more
• You have questions you would like answered by a Certified Financial Planning Professional
• You would like to learn more about Isaac’s and Stalwart Financial Planning’s investment planning philosophy and approach.
• You are looking for free snacks and drinks – (my attempt at humor, but snacks and soft drinks will be provided)
• You have a friend, work colleague or family member that could benefit from knowing more about the topic and you want to introduce them to Isaac – You should reserve 2 tickets – 1 for you and 1 for them
• You would like to understand more about the benefits of Fee-Only Financial Planning
• The price is just right (FREE)

To be able to attend one of the ‘Chats with Isaac’ you must register for the session by reserving your ticket or tickets.  For now, all of the Chats with Isaac will be held in the Suite 200 Conference Room at 4200 Morganton Road, Fayetteville NC.

When looking over the upcoming topics, if you do not see a topic you are interested in there, I suggest you contact us.  Once you do so, you should not be surprised to possibly see the topic added the next time you look at the Stalwart Financial Planning EVENTS section.

What are you waiting for? You should reserve your tickets now.

The post Chats with Isaac first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.

Do you have big plans for the Memorial Day weekend?  I hope you do and I hope you have a safe and enjoyable time doing them all.

In the United States, we observe the last Monday of May as Memorial Day (originally called Decoration Day) to honor our brave men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Now on Memorial day, many have fun and forget about if they have a balanced portfolio or if their funds are beating their Lipper Average.  Memorial Day has morphed from its original creation into a long weekend to:

Watch or Attend Auto Racing Events

Get the boat back into the water

Fire up the grill and invite friends over

Or Jump in the car and travel

Personally, I think all of these are fine.  But, sometime during the official kick-off to summer, you should take a moment to reflect back on the reason for the holiday (remember the sacrifices our brave men and women have made to keep America free).  After the meditation, you can get back to enjoying the freedoms, this country grants to all of us.

What are some of the fun things you are planning to do for Memorial Day?

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The post Remembering our Fallen first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.

The 1938 jazz standard from the movie “Going Places”¹ has the lyrics:

“Jeepers Creepers where’d ya those peerers?

Jeepers Creepers, where’d ya get those eyes?”

Some of you might be wondering to yourself, “Where has Isaac been the last several weeks.  We have not seen any blog entries from him”.  Well the story goes: I had a serious eye infection.  At least it was serious to me.  My eyesight was compromised and I became very sensitive to light. This was sunlight, car headlights, room lights, and etc.  In fact, I was so light sensitive at times; I could not even look at my computer or cell phone screens.  As you can imagine, this made it impossible to write a blog entry or even conduct normal Financial Planning business.

You have probably guessed by now, since you are reading a blog entry, my eyesight is much improved.  I have caught up on my office work backlog, which is fantastic, so now I have time to (and the eyesight) to create a new blog entry.  I am not completely out of the woods yet, so I am still wearing my glasses.  The recommendation from the doctor is to not wear my contact lenses for another month and to keep using the eye drop medication for now.  Once I am fully recovered, I cannot wait to get back on the motorcycle and cruise around the countryside.

I hope to talk with you soon.

Footnote¹ – “Going Places” the movie has appearances by both Ronald Reagan and Louis Armstrong

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The post Jeepers Creepers first appeared on Stalwart Financial Planning.

This was not your typical human to bear encounter by any means.  By typical, I mean an altercation with a black bear, grizzly bear, or even a polar bear.  This was an encounter with a ferocious 7 month old, 12-pound red shorthaired Dachshund puppy named Bear.

Bear came to live with Angela and me a few weeks back.  Bear’s stay was originally scheduled to be a short one (just a few days), while he transitioned to a new home.  As it turned out, Bear’s family to be was not quite ready for a new dachshund.  The mission then turned to working with the great folks from a local Dachshund Rescue group (Thanks Elma).  The rescue group’s next candidate wanted a mature dachshund and not a puppy, thus the encounter with this menacing bear was destined to last several more days.

During this time (approximately 6 days):

• Angela took Bear to the Vet for a checkup (results: everything normal) 
• Bear made 4+ trips to the local Petco to pick out toys and goodies (results: lots of squeaky toys and dog treats)
• We started receiving new puppy gifts from well-wishing friends (results: gift cards and even a Christmas ornament in the shape of a dachshund)

You all are probably wondering how this particular close encounter with a Bear changed my life.

Well after 23+ years of marriage, Bear has become OUR first family pet.  What a wonderful holiday gift from Mary and her family.

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