Life Moves Wealth Management

15/10/2026

A client who's been diligently funding 529 plans recently asked whether their next dollar should go into a new Trump account instead.

My answer? It depends on what you want that dollar to accomplish.

A 529 helps pay for education. A Trump account helps build wealth beyond education.
Both have advantages. But they're designed for different purposes.

Let's say you invest $5,000 annually for 18 years, earning an average 7% return. You'll accumulate approximately $170,000. That's $90,000 in contributions and $80,000 in growth.

Here's the difference:
529 Plan: Use the money for qualified education expenses, and the entire $170,000 comes out federal income tax-free. Use it for something else, and the earnings are generally subject to income tax and a 10% penalty, although exceptions and alternatives exist.

Trump Account: Eligible children born from 2025 through 2028 receive a $1,000 government contribution. The account grows tax-deferred, with special restrictions until age 18. After that, traditional IRA rules generally apply, including taxes on withdrawals and potential early withdrawal penalties.

So, which should you fund for your children?

I'd suggest three things:
1. Take the free money in the Trump account. Claim the $1,000 government contribution if eligible, and explore employer contributions if available.
2. Know when enough is enough. If your 529 is already on track to cover college, continuing to fund it might not be your best move.
3. Think beyond education. A Trump account, Roth IRA when eligible, or taxable brokerage account could create opportunities well beyond college.

Here's the point: The goal isn't to accumulate the most money in any particular account. It's to put your next dollar where it can do the most good.

Sometimes that's college. Sometimes it's retirement. Sometimes it's simply having more options because not all kids will take the university route.

That's what financial planning should help you figure out.

Let's run the numbers together: https://calendly.com/daleshafer/exploration-meeting

06/10/2026

Fun to be a hole sponsor for the 2nd annual Scottsdale Leadership night golf outing. Great round with great friends!

05/10/2026

The goal I hear most often from clients has nothing to do with dying with the biggest portfolio.

It's never the highest return.

Or the lowest tax bill.

Or beating some arbitrary benchmark.

Those are tools.

The real goal is what the money allows you to do.

Work because you want to.

Help your kids.

Travel.

Sell the business.

Start another one.

Take Tuesday afternoon off and sit by the lake with your dog.

More wealth may be the result of years of hard work, smart choices and good guidance. But ultimately, all of it should create something more valuable: freedom.

That's the point.

04/10/2026

There's a point where accumulating more isn't really the problem anymore.

The question becomes:

What now?

What should the next dollar do?

How much is enough?

When can you stop working because you have to?

How much risk do you actually need?

What should happen with the business?

When you've spent decades accumulating wealth, eventually you need a plan for what to do with it.

And that plan is much bigger than a number in an investment portfolio, a net worth calculation or a Monte Carlo simulation.

Those can tell you what you have and what might happen.

A good financial plan should help you decide what happens next.

If your plan feels incomplete, that's where we can help.

01/10/2026

Simple financial answers can get expensive.

"Pay off the mortgage."

"Never sell the stock."

"Always max the 401(k)."

"Convert everything to Roth."

"Take Social Security at 62."

Any of those could be right. Any of them could also be completely wrong.

Good financial planning is about understanding the tradeoffs well enough to know when the rule doesn't apply for your specific situation.

01/10/2026

Success creates a funny problem.

You finally have more options.

And suddenly you're less certain which one to choose.

More accounts. More assets. More tax consequences. More business decisions. More people giving you different advice.

The goal is to create enough clarity that complexity doesn't get in the way of making good decisions.

Because when you can see the road ahead more clearly, you can spend a lot more time enjoying the journey.

30/09/2026

Making more money doesn't necessarily make your financial life easier.

Sometimes it just gives you more expensive decisions to make.

Invest more? Pay down debt? Put it back into the business? Buy the building? Do a Roth conversion? Sell? Keep building?

Early on, the financial goal is often pretty simple: make money and accumulate.

Eventually, the challenge changes.

Now you have to decide what that money should actually do.

That's where financial planning can create enormous value.

A $100,000 decision that saves $30,000 in taxes may be worth far more than squeezing another fraction of a percent out of an investment portfolio.

The bigger your financial life gets, the more valuable good decisions become.

30/09/2026

In October, most people hear "tax planning" and think of tax-loss harvesting. Selling a losing position to offset gains is useful. It's also one tool out of many, and it only affects one year.

Real planning covers this year and the next few by addressing areas, like:

1) Check your withholding now, while there's still time to fix it and avoid an underpayment penalty.

2) Know where you sit in your tax bracket. Are there are still opportunities for a Roth conversion or harvesting gains before hitting the next higher marginal tax bracket?

3) Map out the next five years. Income moves around, and planning decides which years take on which income and the potential to bunch deductions.

4) Match each investment to the right account. Where your stocks, bonds and cash sit across taxable, pre-tax and Roth accounts changes what you owe every year.

Your tax return tells what happened. Planning gives you room to choose what happens next.

29/09/2026

If you've followed my recent posts, you've seen market performance explained as line dancing, return stacked ETFs as a double-decker club sandwich, financial planning as a bowl of spaghetti, and bonds as a see-saw.

I use simple analogies on purpose. Money decisions are hard enough without jargon. A picture you can relate to starts a real conversation, and a real conversation is how people make informed, confident decisions about their money.

If your advisor mostly pitches products or chases whatever stock is flashy this month, let's talk.

If you've assumed you don't have enough money to qualify for an advisor, let's talk too. A lot of people assume that. Most of the time they're wrong.

Schedule time with me here:

What we usually talk about in this exploration meeting: What is the most important thing you want to discuss? What’s happening now, and what decisions do you feel you need to make? A year from now, what would make you feel confident you’re on the right path? Here's what to expect for this meetin...

28/09/2026

When's the last time you were on a see-saw?

The trick was balance. Too light on one side and you'd get stuck in the air. A short plank meant quick little bounces. A long plank gave a bigger, slower ride, and you ended up a lot farther off the ground.

Bond prices and bond yields ride the same see-saw. When one goes up, the other comes down.

Lately we're hearing a lot about interest rates going up, which means bond prices are the side coming down.

How far they drop depends on the length of the plank. For every 1% rise in yields:

- A short-term bond with a duration of about 2 drops roughly 2%
- A longer-term bond with a duration of about 8 drops roughly 8%

Remember the worst part of the see-saw? You're up in the air, feet dangling, and the kid on the other side hops off. You come down fast.

Right now, yields are the kid up in the air. Nobody knows if or when the other side might hop off, but when rates fall, they can fall quickly.

When that happens, the short plank and the long plank land very differently. Cash and money market yields reset lower almost right away, so that income drops fast. Longer-term bonds have already locked in today's yields, and their prices rise as rates come down.

That's why I like owning bonds with a mix of maturities. Some planks short, some long. The portfolio stays balanced even while rates and prices move, and they're always moving.

Have questions about your investment mix? I can help - reach out!