by Timothy McNeely | Apr 1, 2024 | Family, Smart Ways, Success, True Wealth Report
Affluenza. It’s become an all-too-common term used to describe the extreme bad attitudes and actions—sometimes horrific actions—of some children of affluent families.
While it’s not an official medical diagnosis, the label accurately fits some kids today growing up surrounded by sizable family wealth.
If you’ve got one or more such children living under your roof—or if you worry that a child or grandchild may be headed down the affluenza path—it may be time to take action. There are many ways to fight affluenza—from trying to correct negative behaviors and prevent them from recurring to positioning your assets in ways that don’t add even more fuel to the “affluenza fire.”
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by Timothy McNeely | Sep 1, 2023 | Business Success, Dental Wealth Nation, Family, Motivation, Smart Ways, Success
One of the best plans to take from the financial playbook of the Super Rich—those with a net worth of $500 million or more—is to work with professionals to help manage your financial and lifestyle concerns.
But, as the Super Rich know, you can’t stop there. We also need to regularly assess whether the financial advice we get—and the financial solutions we rely on—are truly up to snuff.
The Super Rich regularly takes this step, and so should you. One reason: As your circumstances change, or the world around you changes, the solutions you have in place may no longer be optimal for your needs. “Life happens,” as they say—and strategies that were ideal for you a decade ago might be in need of revision.
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by Timothy McNeely | Aug 1, 2023 | Dental Wealth Nation, Family, Motivation, Smart Ways, Success, True Wealth Report
Chances are, planning for retirement is one of the most important steps—a series of steps, really—that you’ll undertake in your life. Unfortunately, we don’t always put enough focus on making thoughtful decisions during our retirement.
Maybe we overlook something important. Perhaps we veer off course from one or more of our strategies. As a result, much of our hard work and planning during the pre-retirement period of our life can unravel once we enter our golden years—which, in turn, may put our retirement dreams and even our fundamental financial security in danger.
Whether you’re retired or still on the path there, it’s a good idea to learn some moves you can make to avoid big in-retirement financial errors. Here’s a closer look at some of those key mistakes—and how to sidestep them.
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by Timothy McNeely | Jul 1, 2023 | Dental Wealth Nation, Family, Motivation, Smart Ways, Success
The percentage of American adults with strong financial literacy—the ability to understand various financial-related concepts and put them to use—has fallen to historically low levels in recent years.
One example: Just 34 percent of adults showed high levels of financial literacy in 2018—down from 42 percent nine years earlier—based on a financial literacy test offered by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.
Findings such as this are prompting more families to push for greater financial literacy among kids and other young Americans to help reverse recent trends. And indeed, if you have children or grandchildren, there’s likely a lot you can do to instill some financial smarts in your heirs.
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by Timothy McNeely | Apr 1, 2023 | Dental Wealth Nation, Family, Motivation, Smart Ways, Success
It goes without saying that you play a crucial role in making the decisions that will determine whether you will achieve your financial dreams. That’s why it makes sense to have great clarity about the specific financial issues and concerns that are most important to you and the people you care about. Only then can you take steps designed to address them.
In our experience—and supported by research—we find that affluent investors tend to share five major key concerns about their financial futures. Think about your own financial life as you review the following top concerns. You may have additional issues that are unique to your specific situation, but chances are that many (and maybe all) of these challenges are on your list.
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by Timothy McNeely | Mar 1, 2023 | Business Success, Dental Wealth Nation, Family, Smart Ways, Success
Major unexpected challenges can occur at any time. A sudden job loss, a terminal diagnosis or death, a lawsuit directed at you, or a disaster that wrecks your property may cause significant distress that puts your financial future in question.
And while having significant savings or an extensive resume might mitigate much of that uncertainty, affluence and experience don’t guarantee that you’ll completely sidestep serious financial setbacks.
Example: By age 70, nearly all Americans (96 percent) will have experienced four or more major life events such as a layoff, illness or divorce that cause their incomes to drop 10 percent or more. And at least once over the course of their working lives, six in ten workers go a full year or more without earnings, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education.
Here’s how you can navigate those (probably inevitable) periods of financial uncertainty and come out the other side.
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