Tenured Wealth Management of Raymond James

06/09/2026

3,000 followers.

Not a big deal, right?

It's certainly not like I've been counting down the days. In fact, I only really noticed when a friend pointed it out to me.

Which is how most of our successes happen, isn't it?

I mean, it's not like you drew a circle around the Roth contribution you made in March 2014. You didn't throw a party the year you hired your second employee (if you did, good for you!). And you didn't take the day off after paying the first year of college tuition from the savings you'd started to set aside on your daughter's first birthday.

You did the thing, and then you moved on. But that thing was more meaningful than you realized.

Until you did.

After all these years, that's how I've come to think of financial planning: a slow, steady stream of unremarkable milestones that add up to the retirement you pictured for yourself from the very beginning.

It's less PGA Championship than mornings on the putting green and at the driving range.

As for me? Well, I'm going to keep posting, commenting, and connecting with people I genuinely enjoy getting to know. Because that's where the real meaning is behind the numbers I work with.

06/08/2026

Two academic physicians can both have a 457(b) and not have the same plan.

The difference comes down to one word in the plan documents: governmental or non-governmental.

If you're at a state university, public medical school, or state-affiliated hospital, your 457(b) is governmental. The money is held in trust for you. You can roll it into an IRA whenever you leave, and it has the protections you'd expect a retirement account to have.

If you're at a private university or hospital, your 457(b) is non-governmental. Until the money is distributed to you, it's still your employer's asset. You can't roll it over to an IRA, and distribution timing is set by the plan, not by you.

Usually, this isn't an issue. But if your institution experiences financial difficulties, the money in a non-governmental plan ranks alongside the claims of the institution's other unsecured creditors.

That means the calculus is different. A governmental 457(b) is essentially another retirement account. A non-governmental 457(b) is a long-term promise from your employer.

Having spent nine years on the administrative side of higher-ed retirement plans before Burmeister and I started Tenured Wealth Management, I've seen how much that one word in your Plan Description can impact what's available to you in retirement.

If you have any doubts about which version you're contributing to, now's a great time to check your plan details. And if you're thinking about what this might mean for the rest of your plan, I'm always just a call or DM away.

06/03/2026

Another school year's almost over. Just a couple of days left now.

And like every year before this one, you went over and above: cheering on your students at soccer matches and the science fair, chaperoning school trips, and holding extra study sessions to help students feel more confident heading into spring testing.

There are a thousand and one things you did that made an impact. And as rewarding as that is, it's also exhausting.

Both of my parents were teachers, so I know that exhaustion firsthand.

It's why summers were so magical to me as a boy. It wasn't just that time seemed to slow down so that days felt like weeks. It was because my parents were home during the day and I could sense a different, calmer rhythm around the house.

It wasn't until I watched my wife go through the same experience when our daughters were younger that I realized my parents had felt some of that magic, too.

It was the one time of year they got to dial down the hectic pace for more than a week or two, do the things they'd had to keep putting off while managing their classrooms, and wake up each day to be just being Mom and Dad.

When they came home after the last day of classes in June, I'd watch them both exhale.

It's an exhale you know better than anyone.

And it's with that exhale in mind that I want to thank you for everything you did to make this year such a success. I hope you have an incredible summer ahead and that you get to experience some of that long-ago magic these next couple of months.

06/01/2026

You're loading the dishwasher, and your spouse says something about "when I retire."

It's a small thing, and you probably both let it pass.

But that one word, "I" instead of "we," is the opening to the one of the most important conversations the two of you haven't had yet, the one about what you actually want the coming years to look like.

It's easy to put off, especially because we tend to think of retirement as a number to reach and a date to circle. But it's really much deeper than that.

It's a vision you've nurtured for years, although sometimes without realizing you haven't shared all the details.

I've seen a lot of married couples approach retirement without having had that conversation, and it complicates what should be one of the most enjoyable times of your life.

That's why vision and values get top priority when I'm first getting to know new clients. Not because the numbers don't matter, but because the two of you working toward the same goal is what the numbers are for.

And that's the foundation for all the planning that follows.

We talk a lot about benchmarks and key indicators in financial services. One I listen for most often when working with married couples? How often I hear "we" in our conversations.

05/29/2026

Reaching an eight-week streak of positive growth, the S&P 500 was on a roll in May. Strong earnings in the tech sector helped lead the way as the market pushed ahead through inflationary pressures. Get the details in the May market recap:

raymondjames.com

05/29/2026

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," passed last year, extended key tax provisions and brought greater clarity to the planning landscape. Learn how these changes may create expanded opportunities for estate and wealth transfer strategies:

raymondjames.com

05/28/2026

Something I look forward to every year: getting together with some of the best advisors and friends in the business.

This past May 6-8, over 30 financial advisors traveled from across the country to Las Vegas for our 4th annual Advisor Retreat.

Two full days of sharing best practices, exploring the latest technology, and having real conversations about how to better serve our clients.

We played golf. We laughed a lot. We challenged each other.

And every single person walked away with ideas they're already putting to work.

Here's what I keep coming back to after events like this:

The best in any profession never stop learning. They seek out people who push them to grow.

Your clients deserve an advisor who is always getting better.

And honestly, that's what makes showing up every day worth it.

05/27/2026

Kladi Bekolli talked me into this captain pose.

Silly, I know, but it turns out there's more to it than either of us realized.

In part, that's because the two of us are co-hosting the next Albanian Professionals Networking event on June 3rd, from 6 to 9 pm, aboard the Infinity Yacht for a sunset river cruise on the Detroit River.

If you're part of the Albanian professional community in the greater Detroit area, we'd love to see you there. And if you use code GKFS (all caps in the Promo Code) you save $10 off your ticket and we donate $10 to the Gjergj Kastrioti Scholarship Fund, a cause near and dear to our hearts ❤️

https://lnkd.in/gAMGn5ve

It's also because the captain metaphor runs deeper than a night on the river.

For nearly 20 years, I've tried to be exactly that for the people I work with: a steady presence when life is going well, and an even steadier one when it isn't.

The people who've needed me most during those years haven't just been concerned about their portfolio or investment returns. They've called or stopped by the office to ask if everything was going to be OK.

Sure, those two questions are connected. But they're not the same thing. And knowing the difference between them is the anchor you deserve.

05/26/2026

Visits home have started to feel different.

You're more aware of little things, like mail piling up near the door or a story told twice in one visit or a phone call about a "medical bill collector" that didn't quite add up.

That's made your parents' financial situation feel less clear.

And more pressing.

But the conversation you want to have isn't always an easy one, because most of us weren't taught how to have it.

That usually means it gets put off, even though you know what you're seeing impacts your situation, too, whether that involves taking time off to drive your parents to appointments or paying bills that keep stacking up or assuming power of attorney without fully understanding how they've organized things.

These are conversations Burmeister and I help clients have all the time. Not just because it's our business. But because these are people who've invited us into their lives and entrusted us with so much.

They're people we care about deeply.

And one of the ways we repay that trust is by helping to make those hard conversations as comfortable as possible.

If you're facing "the money talk" with your parents but don't know where to start, we've got nearly 40 years of combined experience we're more than happy to share.

05/25/2026

We remember with gratitude those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Their legacy lives on.