Feng Shui and Money

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAA friend of mine had a Feng Shui expert look over her house this weekend. She invited me to come over and watch. Tons can be done to attract wealth into your life, she told me. While I found the in-depth Feng Shui so complex and complicated...

How Much Shopping Is Too Much?

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAFlipping through the latest In Style last night, I realized how easy it is to feel that the price tags for the things magazine editors like to tell us we absolutely must have are out of line with our earnings. The consensus among those in...

Enriching Your Children’s Lives the Pollan Levine Way

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAI just finished Mr. Pollan and Mr. Levine’s book, Die Broke. While I found a myriad of interesting points between the covers, one that really resonated with me was the way they turned the old-fashioned view of children and inheritances...

Achieve financial independence

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAMy brother and I had a long talk about financial independence last night, over the most delicious Crème Brûlée. I realized how much the two have in common! Both the dessert and the concept are things everybody craves – yet very few have a...

The right time to retire

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAWhen should I retire? a woman called me up to ask today. I found it charming; quaint, even, to make such a complex question sound so simple. If only it were so simple that I could just have spouted out age 65 or 55. Would not it be...

Renting vs. owning your home

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAMy cousin had his house appraised today, and he was not happy. Of course, he’s far from the only one feeling this way. With the US real estate markets free falling like rocks dumped from skyscrapers, an increasing number of people are...

Leave a legacy for loved ones

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAWhen should I start saving for my children? a thirty-something mother of two asked me today. Right now, I suggested. She looked puzzled. Wasn’t it a little early? They are, after all, only two and four. I told her that if she is serious...

Live a More Joyful and Prosperous Life

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAI read in the paper today that only about 20% of Americans enjoy their jobs, and even fewer feel they are getting paid what they deserve. As though this weren’t bad enough, a large portion of our precious free time tends to get eaten up by...

Create and preserve wealth

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAThe one question I’m asked the most – three times today, for example – is: how do I create wealth? And once I have it, how do I hold on to it and make sure I never, ever lose it?Well. Wealth is – in essence – the difference between your...

Ease money record-keeping burdens

by Stacy Francis, CFP®, CDFAMy assistant burst into my office this morning, wild-eyed. Had I seen the $200 she had in the pocket of her trench coat three days ago? Nope. She decided to dig through her purse – oversize albeit exploding with receipts – yet another time....