The clients we encounter and develop relationships with come from all walks of life. Each person’s story is different. As is the case with all things, not everything is as it seems from a distance. This is an important thing to be cognizant of, especially as financial advisors and planners because it is our job to identify what we can do to help people make changes in their lives that will benefit them financially, but more importantly give them a feeling of confidence and self-empowerment.

We met Jeanette at a financial independence session that we held a few years back. She was in her mid-fifties and had been divorced for two years. Jeanette confided in us that her marriage ended due to infidelity on her husband’s part and that it had been difficult to let go of the pain and anger that those circumstances caused her.

When it comes to meeting and exceeding your financial goals, the first step is always to come up with a reasonable and achievable budgeting and savings plan. The following steps can help you get a handle on your expenses and establish a clear plan toward building your savings and meeting your financial milestones.

1. Look into your company retirement plans: saving a small amount of money per month, directly from your paycheck is an easy way to get started. Even if you only elect to save a small percentage of your salary, many companies offer a match on a percentage that you choose to save.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are receiving intense media coverage, prompting many investors to wonder whether these new types of electronic money deserve a place in their portfolios.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin emerged only in the past decade. Unlike traditional money, no paper notes or metal coins are involved. No central bank issues the currency, and no regulator or nation-state stands behind it.

Much has been written about the reasons women investors arrive at retirement with less money than men. One of the most obvious reasons is that women are likely to take time off during prime earning periods to have children or take on the role of caretaker for elderly relatives. And despite significant progress in pay equality over the past few decades, women continue to make about 80% of what is paid to their male counterparts. All of these factors result in women being unable to squirrel away as much money as men during their top earning potential years.

If this paints a grim picture of women’s ability to successfully invest and prepare for retirement, don’t fret: while women may have less money to invest, they often do so with more success than men. Women and men often differ in how they approach investing, and these differences can cause women to be more successful investors than men over the long run.

If you are like many conservative investors nearing retirement, adding a higher rate of equities to your portfolio can seem like risky business. But a portfolio that relies too heavily on fixed income carries its own form of risk. In our low-interest rate environment bond yields are low, and if your portfolio isn’t outpacing the rate of inflation, then you might find yourself running the risk of outliving your portfolio. As investors approach retirement, instead of reallocating to a portfolio comprised entirely of fixed income, investors may be better served with a combination of equities and fixed income to ensure the portfolio lasts for the next twenty-five to thirty years.

The Idea of Taking Risk is Unique to us All

Risk means different things to different people. Many times, risk implies permanent loss. Labeling a portfolio or investment as “risky” doesn’t really help us define how that investment will perform over the long term, or whether that investment belongs in the portfolio in the first place. When talking very broadly about stocks (equities) or bonds (fixed income), labeling these asset classes as risky doesn’t help much at all. A better way to define these two categories is using a measure of volatility. It is true that equities are more volatile than fixed income. Stocks fluctuate more than bonds on a daily basis and for many investors, looking at the daily volatility of their portfolio will drive them crazy! Volatility isn’t necessarily a bad thing—it is finding the right mix of stocks and bonds in a portfolio so you aren’t making major changes over normal market fluctuations. Over time, investors are rewarded for taking on more volatility, as stocks outperform bonds in the long run.