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Today, I want to talk about something I once-upon-a-time used to look forward too, but now fills me with sheer dread - my upcoming birthday. I know what you’re thinking, no one likes getting older, but it’s not even about that. Aside from the pains in my joints that exponentially increase with each passing year, and the extra gray hairs, I don’t particularly mind the getting older part. My birthday just feels underwhelming. Every year. After turning twenty-one, what is there to even celebrate? Being able to rent a car? Ew.

Like most moms, I really just want my children to be prepared to become functional adults. As a financial advisor, I really want them to have a good relationship with money.

Happy New Year! It’s that special time of year - time to resolve I’m going to be a better person in some way, get pumped up about my transformation for 3 weeks, and then forget about it entirely.

With most schools just letting out for Summer, it’s unlikely that college savings is currently top of mind. Instead, you may be focused on Summer Camps and family vacations. Grandparents in particular may be making plans to spend a little extra time with their grandkids – wanting to spoil them as much as they can before they grow up. We often hear from clients that they want to contribute to their grandchildren’s future education cost, but they they’re fearful it will count against them for Financial Aid purposes. In their defense it has been a tricky system to navigate until recently.

Over the course of our recent quarterly reviews, we couldn’t help but notice a common question resurfacing: “What are your thoughts on Bitcoin?”. Who could blame anyone for asking? How often do we see investments balloon from 30k to 60k in a matter of months? Or the likes of Elon Musk discussing the topic on Saturday Night Live! In a world where teens on Tik Tok & Reddit are outperforming the smartest investors on Wall Street, it was definitely time to address the elephant in the room.

Do you understand the stock market? Maybe you know a little bit, or maybe you’re completely clueless. Either way, I’m confident you’ll learn something with this post. We’ll review some basics of the market and look into our strategy for managing investments at Bluestone. If you need a quick refresher on investing in general, check my last blog.

The high levels of volatility in the markets over the past fourteen months have led to some strange occurrences. During the swift and vicious declines of March 2020, those eager to avoid further losses led to an indiscriminate tossing out of babies with the bathwater.

These two phrases are similar, but very different. It seems people get them confused and it’s important to understand what differentiates them. If you read my last blog, I’ll assume you have already implemented some saving strategies. Good work. Now that we understand how to save, it’s time to take a deeper dive into what we do next.