The Dow recently rose above 15,000 for the first time. The S&P 500 has also risen into uncharted territory.

It's coming.

Since the lows of 2009, the market has more than doubled in value.

It's coming.

After pulling money out of stock mutual funds for the past five years,...

We all have our challenges. Our children are driving us crazy. Too much going on at work, and not enough time to get it done. Our body sends us daily reminders that life is not what it used to be.

Few of us, however, face challenges comparable to Susan Spencer-Wendel's....

My son, Daniel, is graduating from college this spring. I imagine his graduation will feature a keynote speaker who will give sage advice to the graduating students.

I was thinking about what I would say if I was addressing my son and his classmates, charged with imparting wisdom to that...

It's got to be the largest concentration of pimiento cheese sandwiches and payphones in the world. I'm talking about the world-famous Masters Tournament, held the first full week in April at Augusta National Golf Club every year.

Cell phones are strictly forbidden. Get caught with one inside and you could...

America is rapidly hurtling toward the metaphorical fiscal cliff.

If you listen to the myriad of voices sounding off on the topic, you'll know that our country goes off this fiscal cliff on January 1 when $500 billion in tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts take effect. The pundits warn...

This ought to be good -- at least for my business. We got a deeper glance inside the inner workings of one of the country's largest financial institutions with the release of Greg Smith's book, Why I Left Goldman Sachs: A Wall Street Story. Based on his previous op-ed in...

How do you measure the success of a business? For most of us, we measure a company's success in financial terms. What are the company's sales and profits? Are revenue and profits growing or shrinking? Is the management team delivering a reasonable return to its shareholders?

For public companies, defining...

It's time for kids to go back to school, and it won't be long before our children start reaching for our wallets to keep up with their friends' spending habits. As parents, we need to figure out when to say 'yes' and when to say 'no.'

As a financial planner,...

In my line of work as a financial adviser, I'm often asked about risk. Primarily, the questions are around the risk of choosing one path or one investment over another. Very few of my decisions have to do with life or death. That's why I have followed the Peyton Manning...

As a kid, I wanted to be like my dad. I still do.

When elementary school kids get together, talk inevitably turns to whose dad could beat up whom. As we got a little older, it turned to whose dad worked where, each of us hoping to follow in our...

I learned early on in my career as a financial advisor that my job is to help clients access their own wisdom to make their own right choices. It is not about cajoling or coaxing them into doing things they really don't want or care to do.

Case in point:...

Back in the 1950's, my father was a home builder. The first house he ever built was less than 900 square feet and sold for under $10,000. The man who bought the house from my dad couldn't have been happier. It was his first home -- and he went on...

Those of us old enough to remember phones without touchpads, much less texting, certainly remember the old Morton salt slogan "When it rains, it pours." It's an iconic advertising campaign that resonated nearly 100 years ago -- and still rings true today. Need an example? There are 81...

Dear Lottery Winner,

Congratulations on winning $640 million! You must be feeling great right about now, and my hunch is that you also are feeling a bit overwhelmed and anxious about what to do next. As a financial advisor, let me give you a bit of unsolicited advice....