Last week, I talked up Headspace. I try to get my Zen on every day, but for a Type A type like me, sometimes one resource just doesn’t cut it. Is it ironic that even when it comes to my meditation I tend to be an over-achiever? Hey, I’m in good company. Consider this interesting article about the late, great Steve Jobs and the one question he asked himself every...

Remember Ray and the late Tom Magliozzi of Car Talk? I miss their weekly advice, and so does my car. I’ve even been known to have browsed their “shameless commerce” division. Today, I’m going to engage in some shameless commerce of my own … but not for myself. As I reflect on some of the things that make me happy, I want to share that onward by pointing you to...

The lessons learned from our 2013 post on health and wealth seem like an excellent way to wrap Sheri’s Summer Refresher Series, before we move on to new ideas and fresh posts for the rest of the year. If there’s one piece that gets to the heart of what we’re about at SAGEbroadview, this one just might be it. We love its central theme, and try to live by it...

If you’ve been following our blog for any length of time, you may already realize that we’re big on expressing gratitude around here. But that doesn’t mean that we have to shout it from the rooftops to make it matter. Grateful living can come quietly as well, and we introverts are indeed grateful for that. As we prepare to swing into another raucous year of noisy news (can you say “Donald...

Long-time readers of the SAGEbroadview Blog are already familiar with my story but permit me a moment to fill in our new readers. On May 4th, 2008 (just as the Great Recession got under way!) my family and I were in a serious car accident. My husband and two sons were banged up but otherwise fine; I had multiple abrasions and contusions and my neck was fractured in two places....

Raise your hand if you’ve had multiple careers. Or does yours more closely resemble Alfred Feld’s? He joined Goldman Sachs in 1933 and remained there for 80 YEARS(!), until he passed away at age 98 last fall. Whenever he was asked about his longevity, he is reported to have replied, “I’m just lucky.” While all of us at SAGEbroadview come to financial life planning via more circuitous routes, we have...

In our last post, we covered an important part of philanthropy: ensuring that your gifts bring joy to you and your intended recipients in equal measure. Meaningful giving is an admittedly qualitative, “Venus” measure of success. Today, we’ll visit “Mars,” where we explore some of the more quantitative components of your philanthropic plans: Effective Giving – How do you assess potential charitable organizations you’ve identified to ensure they will make good...

Earlier this year, we covered how charitable giving can be a win-win activity, bringing as much happiness to the donor as to the recipient. We believe this is true whether you’re giving gifts to loved ones or fulfilling philanthropic goals. But especially for the latter, the giving is best done intentionally as part of your greater financial life planning: Meaningful Giving – First and foremost, does the giving bring you joy? Effective...

In the past few weeks, I’ve dedicated our SAGE blog to four streams of consciousness that combine to serve as the undercurrent, or the “life” portion, of financial LIFE planning: Gratitude Meditation Spending time with your tribe Giving I’ve intentionally saved Giving as the best for last. If you want happiness for an hour — take a nap. If you want happiness for a day — go fishing. If you want happiness for a year — inherit a...

Have you caught this two-minute YouTube video that’s been making its way around the social media channels lately, “Cat-Friend vs. Dog-Friend”? Be forewarned, it’s edgy. Huffington Post describes it as “tastefully offensive,” a combination I’m still pondering. Either way, last I checked, it’s nearing a billion hits, and counting. Besides offering a laugh, it provides a lead-in to this week’s discussion on the importance of spending time with friends and family....