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Planning Within Reach, LLC

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Planning Within Reach, LLC

Planning Within Reach is a Fiduciary and Fee-Only Financial Advisory Firm.

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06/16/2026

"I've had an advisor for five years, but I've never had a financial plan."...

I've heard some version of this from dozens of prospective clients recently.

They have investments. They have someone they can call with questions. They generally like their advisor. Yet they have no idea:

• Whether they're on track for retirement

• If they're saving enough for their goals

It all feels ad hoc and incomplete because the relationship is almost entirely reactive. When a question comes up, they ask. The advisor answers.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that model, and some people are perfectly happy with it. But it's very different from comprehensive financial planning.

That's why I require we start with a comprehensive financial plan, even if someone is ready to have me manage their investments today. (Plus, I want to make sure we enjoy working with each other!)

Once we know where you stand, where you're headed, and what gaps need attention, ongoing advice becomes much more valuable. We're no longer just reacting to whatever comes up. We're monitoring progress, making adjustments, and staying ahead of potential problems.

Not everyone wants that level of planning, and that's okay.

But if you're not sure where you stand financially, that's a gap worth addressing.

06/11/2026

Lifestyle creep gets a bad rap...

It's often mentioned in a negative context - as if any increase in spending is irresponsible or something to be embarrassed about. That's not true.

I have clients who started working with me 10-15 years ago when they were just beginning their careers. They were raising young kids, stretching to buy homes, and living on virtually nothing.

Fast forward a decade: their careers have taken off, the kids are heading to college, and yes - they’re spending more.

But it’s not reckless spending. They’re going on more date nights, taking an extra family trip, and outsourcing things that reduce stress and give them more time back. That's completely reasonable (and wasn't that the goal all along?)

Where lifestyle creep becomes a problem isn't the spending itself. It's when the financial plan doesn't evolve alongside it.

When money was tight, saving 10% for retirement may have been the best you could do. The life insurance amount you chose may have reflected a very different lifestyle and set of obligations.

Now that you earn more and spend more, those numbers probably need to change because the goalposts have moved.

I get it - I don't want to go back to living the way I did starting out in my 20s, either. My lifestyle has crept, and I want it to stay that way.

Just make sure your financial plan is keeping up.

06/09/2026

Former Villanova tour guide here (aka member of the Blue Key Society)...

I loved a recent post from College Inside Track about questions to ask a student tour guide.

I received questions 2, 4, and 5 all the time (along with plenty of questions about the food and Greek life), but the others are great as well.

1. What surprised you when you got here your freshman year, what was most unexpected?

2. What do you love most about your school? What drives you crazy?

3. What do you wish you had known before making the decision to come here?

4. What were your deciding factors?

5. What are weekends like here (particularly if home is far away)?

6. What unexpected costs did you experience, things you hadn’t planned for that we should?

For parents, students, and recent graduates: What's your answer to 6?

https://collegeinsidetrack.com/6-questions-you-need-to-ask-on-your-next-college-tour/

06/02/2026

A carnival came to town last weekend...

It was fascinating to watch my four girls approach the rides completely differently.

- My 7-year-old made a beeline for one of the biggest rides and loved it. No fear.

- My 10-year-old spent the entire first night on "small rides" (not "baby rides," as her sisters kept teasing) before deciding she was ready for the same ride her younger sister had conquered right out of the gate.

- My 13-year-old used to love rides, but had one bad experience in Japan that scared her so much she hadn't been on a major ride in five years. It took some encouragement from friends to finally get her back on one.

- My 15-year-old has been on so many roller coasters at this point that she was more interested in the food and social scene than the rides themselves. They were just background noise.

Of course, I couldn't help but see the parallels with investing. We all have natural tendencies, but our experiences, the amount of information we need to move forward, and the people around us influence our decisions too.

Someone who lived through a painful market decline may become far more cautious than their natural temperament would suggest. Others become more comfortable taking risks because previous risks worked out well.

One of the most valuable parts of financial planning isn't trying to change who you are. It's understanding your tendencies, recognizing how your experiences have shaped you, and building a plan that works with your behavior instead of against it.

As for me this weekend, I would consider myself in the "paralyzed by too much information" category - at least when it comes to carnivals, not investing. No way I'm getting on a ride that was assembled in a parking lot 24 hours ago and is being operated and inspected by people I've never met. That's just me!

What about you - are you a carnival ride person?

05/28/2026

Most people I talk to don’t actually want to “retire” early...

They want more "freedom" earlier. More control over how they spend their time. There can be plenty of ways to create that before a traditional retirement age.

🏓 Part-time work

Some people are open to working longer if they can just work less hours in a week. A three-day workweek, seasonal work, consulting, or reduced hours leaves room for working out, volunteering, travel, and hobbies.

🚲 Sabbaticals

I’ve helped clients plan for unpaid time off, not because they’re burned out, but because there are things they want to experience now while they still have the health and energy for them.

📽️ Career pivots

These can be more complicated financially because they may involve school, a lower starting salary, and additional risk - especially if someone wants to start a business. But it's a good option to consider because many people don’t necessarily want to stop working. They just want their work to feel different. And is it really that surprising? Most of us chose what we wanted to be "when we grew up" when we were twenty years old!

Don't think of your only two options as grinding until traditional retirement age or quitting work now. There's a whole lot in the middle that can be analyzed once you've nailed down some appealing options.

05/21/2026

“I kept putting this off because I didn’t know where to start.”

When it comes to employer stock, I completely understand why people do nothing. Selling company stock doesn’t feel like one decision. It feels like ten.

- How much should I sell?
- Which lot should I sell?
- What will the taxes look like?
- What should I do with the money after I sell?
- What if I sell and the stock keeps going up?

So people wait.

But doing nothing is still a decision. It’s effectively the decision to:

- Take your bonus and invest it in your employer stock (for RSUs).
- Tie both your income and investments to the same company.
- Hope the concentration risk works in your favor.

If you’re putting off figuring out your employer stock, you’re not alone.
It’s one of the most common “complexity spikes” I see - the moment when someone realizes a financial decision has become too important and too complex to keep guessing through it on their own.

Counterintuitively, I’ve found that zooming out often helps reduce employer stock decision fatigue.

When you understand where you are, where you’re trying to go, and what role this money actually plays in your future, the decisions around your employer stock often become much clearer.

04/20/2026

“Why am I doing this?”...

I had that thought for hours while climbing Mount Fuji when we were living in Japan. So many people from the military base had done it and talked about it like it was a Sunday stroll. Some had even done it multiple times.

It took us 5 hours to get to the top… where we saw absolutely nothing but clouds. We thought the worst was over, but then we had to go down.

The descent took 3 hours, much of it walking sideways because our toes kept slamming into the front of our boots. Mount Fuji is a volcano, so you are basically skiing down loose gravel and ash while people slip all around you.

“Why am I doing this?” kept running through my head.

Thankfully, my husband was there reminding me of things like:

- you're the one that wanted to do this :)
- it's a unique experience
- challenges are good for you
- we get to fill up these cool hiking sticks with stamps (every station you stop at has a different stamp)

We laugh about the story now, but this happens ALL THE TIME. I am in conversations with people who find themselves wondering why they took a certain job, accepted that promotion, picked a certain career, are living where they are. The list goes on…

It’s human nature. We often follow the path in front of us - influenced by family, peers, or the thing we perceive to be “next”. It can be easy to lose focus of what you really want.

Sometimes things work out. Other times, they don't. Coming up with an alternative plan is hard – especially when it feels you are too far up the mountain to turn around. And sometimes going down is the hardest part, even though it is essential to get you where you need to be.

Have you ever found yourself in a position asking yourself, "Why am I doing this?"

For the record - I can now say (5 years later) I am glad I hiked Mount Fuji. But it took a while to be able to say that.

04/15/2026

Things are not always as they seem.

I am still bitter that The Proposal, one of my favorite rom-coms of all time (set in Sitka, Alaska), was actually filmed in Massachusetts. I begged my husband for years to visit Sitka because of that movie. 🤣

Virgin River? Filmed in Vancouver, not Northern California. So much for retiring down the street from Jack's Bar.

But it’s a reminder that what we imagine and what we experience aren’t always the same. And that's okay.

Over the years, I’ve seen:

▪️ Couples who dreamed of RV travel but realized they greatly preferred hotels.

▪️ Clients who bought boats and sold them a couple of years later - too much maintenance.

▪️ Second homes that sounded ideal on paper, but in reality, the kids were too busy to visit, it was expensive, and overall just not what they expected.

▪️ A client who moved to a beautiful mountain town, bought her "dream home" (her words), and realized two years later it wasn’t what she thought it would be. She recently moved elsewhere.

Having a financial plan isn’t about creating a perfectly paved path into the future. It’s about building flexibility into your life so you can pivot when needed (because you probably will need to) and still meet your financial goals.

BTW, sorry if I ruined The Proposal or Virgin River for you.

This picture is of Sitka (or Massachusetts). Either one.

04/01/2026

In this clip from my interview with college counselor Heidi King of College Inside Track, we discuss the emotional and economic impact of not finding a "right fit" school the first time.

You can watch the full conversation on my YouTube channel.

03/30/2026

Community college can be a more affordable path to a four-year degree, but it’s important to have a clear transfer plan in place.

In this clip from my interview with college counselor Heidi King of College Inside Track, we discuss what families should consider before choosing this route.

You can watch the full conversation on my YouTube channel.

College Inside Track
https://collegeinsidetrack.com/

Planning Within Reach
https://www.planningwithinreach.com/

Address

3419 Virginia Beach Boulevard #530
Virginia Beach, VA
23452

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+16195679306

Website

http://www.planningwithinreach.com/

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