Michael Kimmel, CFP®

Marriage is more than just a romantic relationship—it’s also a financial partnership. If you’re planning on getting married, you and your future spouse are probably focused on planning your wedding and honeymoon. But planning for your future financial life—and for what happens if your marriage doesn’t last forever—is just as important.

If you follow the stock market closely, you have probably noticed that what we read in the news oftentimes doesn’t reflect actual market trends. Commonly accepted stock market myths have become so pervasive that they can affect how we choose to invest and how we characterize ourselves as investors.

If you’re a parent of young children during this difficult period of quarantine, by now you’re all too familiar with the added challenges of parenting while navigating through this defining moment in history.

Many investors utilize income-producing holdings such as dividend-paying stocks and/or bonds to generate cash flow within their portfolio. When analyzing the performance or appropriateness of these holdings, it is important to take into account not only the income generated, but also the change in principal value. The method of measuring performance that takes both income and capital appreciation/depreciation into consideration is known as total return.  Total return is considered by many to be the most accurate measure of performance.