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There are many ways to think about or financial health. At Engage Advisors, we seek to help make those decisions easier and more effective. Our weekly insights are designed to help inform you in pursuit of financial well-being by reducing the confusion brought on by this complex financial industry. If there's a topic you don't see or would like to learn more about, please contact us. We're happy to help and enjoy getting ideas to write about.

Engage Advisors, LLC is a registered investment adviser. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Engage Advisors, LLC and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Engage Advisors, LLC unless a client service agreement is in place.

 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Let's revisit the often referenced rebalancing of a portfolio and define what this means. Sorry I’m not sorry but I need to nerd out for a moment. To rebalance, we need to know what it means to be in balance. At Engage, our...

 

Monday, August 22, 2016

“Take what you have and make the most of it.” Sounds pretty intuitive, right? Mr. Lombardi's advice can be incredibly powerful when taken to heart, especially when exercised consistently over time. This is impactful in so...

 

Monday, August 15, 2016

...This may sound logical and acceptable. Evidence however, is clear that more people consistently follow the crowd then Mr. Buffet’s advice. The nature of fear makes this concept very difficult to execute. Recall the depths of...

 

Monday, August 1, 2016

Should we be taking sides? Much of the argument between active and passive investment management is based on the efficient market hypothesis (EMH). The basic premise is that it is not possible to outperform the market at different...

 

Monday, July 11, 2016

With great power comes great responsibility. Thank you Stan Lee! Investment professionals control massive amounts of private wealth. Sound financial advice can make or break most financial goals – especially retirement! The...

 

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Monday, June 27, 2016

Ask your advisor about compensation. I don’t know why this is such a difficult subject for clients to discuss. This whole work-for-pay exchange seems to cause a lot of confusion! As a client, especially if you’re working...

 

Monday, June 20, 2016

Thank you captain obvious, I'm sure you've heard this age old adage... So why do so many people rely on one asset for the majority of their net worth? Think of your business, home, 401k, real estate investment, IRAs, etc. I'm not...

 

Monday, June 13, 2016

Want to know why headlines are so terrifying? They are emotional. They are exciting. They are impactful. They declare a perception that things are much worse than actual reality. I see this all the time with investors I work with or...

 

Monday, June 6, 2016

With great pleasure, it's time top break down a financially dangerous rule of thumb. "Your age should represent the % of bonds in your portfolio." Sound at all familiar? This “rule”, thankfully, is not as prevalent today as it once was...

 

Monday, May 16, 2016

Remember the rule of thumb: The stock market returns 10% per year? This simple assumption is why you’ll always find that one guy at the party arguing that it’s better to throw it all into an index fund. If there was an...

 

Monday, May 9, 2016

Let’s define what an emergency fund is not – it’s not a bundle of cash in a safe, under your mattress, or in a cookie jar above the fridge. An emergency fund is readily accessible money set aside to cover emergency expenses outside norma...

 

Monday, May 2, 2016

Broken thumb: Have at least 5x your income in life insurance. I’ve seen this rule of thumb vary significantly. One company lists 5-7x your annual income, another states life insurance needs to be at least 7-10x. Recently I even...

 

Monday, April 11, 2016

Tax day is here in just a few days. This year it was extended to 4/18/16 due to Emancipation Day which is a holiday in DC. Here are a few thoughts as we close up 2015’s taxes. Make sure you’ve made you 2015 IRA/Roth IRA or...

 

Monday, April 4, 2016

We're currently going through the top 8 rules of thumb and how to apply them. We recently covered the 4% rule and this week we'll take some time with another rule of thumb:Save 10% of your take home pay for retirement. The math seems...

 

Monday, March 28, 2016

Let's break down what is perhaps the most broadly used rule of thumb in financial planning - "You should only pull 4% of your assets as retirement income." It's used so pervasively in the financial planning community that it almost seems...

 

Monday, March 21, 2016

Let's talk about finding our "magic number" in retirement. This is the amount of money you need to save to give you the retirement income you want. The challenge in this equation while it may sound simple is that it's ever changing. Ever...

 

Monday, February 22, 2016

"There is nothing permanent except change." – HeraclitusIn its ultimate simplicity, a financial plan is a road map. It takes you from point A to point B. Hopefully gets you over a river or two, maybe through a mountain pass,...

 

Monday, February 15, 2016

The financial world changes with the tides. Those who try to stand against change are about as successful as a sand castle against the ocean. It may stand tall through a couple waves, eventually it will be overtaken...

 

Monday, February 8, 2016

"The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." – John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes was attributed with this powerful quote that can make many investors feel uneasy about the prospects of the stock...

 

Monday, January 25, 2016

"It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure." – Marquis de Sade No pain, no gain. Perhaps this should be the surgeon general's warning for investing. Higher risk typically goes hand in hand with greater potential growth....

 

Monday, October 12, 2015

Let’s face it, not many of us are blessed with the perfect career from the first job out of college through the final day of our working years. Many people take a 3-4 jobs to find their career, then through company expansion,...

 

Monday, October 5, 2015

Let’s take a moment to talk about investment expenses. Whether it’s within a mutual fund, separate account, ETF, UIT, CEF or other investment vehicle, expenses matter! But they aren’t the only consideration...

 

Friday, September 18, 2015

In practice as a financial planner, college planning is a very popular topic. It is very noble to make sure higher education is achieved for our next generation. The call is greater now than ever for our children to be...

 

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

The year was 2007. What a time to start a career centered on investing! Expectations were high, market indexes were higher and it seemed that making money was easy. Then the “Great Recession” hit and the S&P 500 plummeted...

 

Monday, February 2, 2015

Take any aspect of life and the above quote applies rather well. Finance, health, faith, social, work... It may be more how we deal with life's obstacles than what obstacles are put in front of us that defines us...

 

Monday, January 19, 2015

Here's a favorite investing mantra of ours: Ignore the headlines and pay attention to the fundamentals. Numbers are much telling than the emotion eliciting headlines. We will unpack "headline risk" shortly. First, let's define...

 

Monday, October 27, 2014

To my readers who aren't watching the Royals play in the world series, I'm sorry... Now we couldn't let the World Series go by without including baseball could we? The Babe said it best: "Don't let fear of striking out hold you back."...

 

Monday, July 7, 2014

The best time to start investing is 20 years ago. Have you ever heard something like that? Over time with compound returns, investing can be a powerful way to increase your wealth. It doesn't mean 20 years ago was the best time to be...

 

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

At the end of the year looking back, whether smooth sailing or a wild ride, there is plenty to look at to close out the year. Take a look at a brief list of items we should look at to close out every year to make sure you’re up-to...