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When it comes to investing and finance, recent history has shown a lack of equality. The financial barriers faced by women are unique. There are a number of challenges, including the gender pay gap and the demand for childcare. Throughout most of history, women have been excluded from finances, and this only changed in the last few decades. Women have also been challenged by the pandemic, which disproportionately forced them to take on homeschooling and caregiver roles.

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month and we wanted to highlight how finances can gravely affect someone's mental health. The constant need to balance your budget and constantly accounting for your rent/mortgage, paying for groceries, paying for bills, medical expenses and the need to save for retirement can be overwhelming for many people. According to the American Psychological Association, roughly 72% of adults report varying levels of stress that result from worrying about finances and 44% say their finances are the leading cause of their stress, meaning almost 3/4 of adults in the US will suffer from financial stress. With this article, we want to spread awareness of the negative impact of financial stress and the different coping mechanisms you can use to combat it and keep your mind at ease.^[1]

Is your New Year’s Resolution for 2021 to save more money?

The start of a new year is the perfect time to reassess your finances and make a plan to save more money. Check out these tips to increase your savings in 2021!

The difficult year of 2020 has taught us countless lessons. Unfortunately, many have learned this year that our financial futures are not always guaranteed; an unexpected event such as a worldwide pandemic can cause mass unemployment, market instability, loss of income streams due to illness or death, and other financial problems.

As a result, you may be thinking of ways that you can give your children or grandchildren the gift of a stable financial future. With the holidays quickly approaching, here are some great gift ideas to ensure financial security for the younger generations in your family.

Being an independent Financial Advisor often means growing your business on your own without the structure or framework of a large firm. While the upsides to that are many (think: being your own boss on your own terms), the downside can include not having the business building skills needed to grow.

An often under-utilized resource for leveling up on these skills can be found within the yearly mandated Continuing Education (CE) courses you’re required to take to uphold your license. Advisors may sometimes think of these as merely a compliance obligation, yet we’re here to let you in on a secret: there is valuable content that could help to build your entrepreneurial advisory IF you take the right classes.

Below are 4 relevant CE Courses and why they could help your practice: