TheLiveBigWay* Digest – The Best of 2013

TheLiveBigWay* Digest – The Best of 2013

As we prepare this edition of the Digest, we’re hoping that you had a great end to 2013 and celebrated the start to 2014 with your close family and friends.

The end of one year and the beginning of another is a great time to reflect. As we reviewed the Digest posts of the year just ended, we were intrigued by what resonated with people the most and decided to share with you the top five posts from 2013 in each category in order of popularity.

 Top Five “Economy and Investing” Posts:
12 month total return as of Nov 30 2013 1) June 6, 2013
Managing Risk when Rebalancing into Bonds
Strong stock market gains have triggered rebalancing into bonds at a time when many consider the bond market expensive. Out of the frying pan and into the fire? 

2) April 3, 2013
The Great Disinformation: Why David Stockman is Wrong
Ideology, not economics, is at the center of Stockman’s arguments. And his ideology is whole and consistent and dyspeptic and dystopian. Here’s why he’s wrong.

3) December 5, 2013
Managing Risk in a Rising Stock Market
With U.S. stock indices have been hitting new highs, many are asking if the market has become overpriced and, if so, what can we do to mitigate risk? 

4) October 10, 2013
Debt, Deficit, and Default: Dancing with Disaster
The government has been “shut down” for 11 days now with the threat of default now looming. While the former is painful, the latter would be truly disastrous. 

5) August 28, 2013
Where the Smart Money is Headed
Dimensional Fund Advisors has been successful in attracting financial advisors who seek to invest their clients’ money in a more “evidence-based” fashion.

Top Five “Financial Planning” Posts:
1) August 14, 2013
Advice to an Incoming College Freshman
Adopt these simple policies and enjoy your college experience free of the money worries that can mar what should be one of the best experiences of your life.2) September 12, 2013
Top 8 Things You Need to Know About the New Health Insurance Marketplaces
Highlights of the new health insurance marketplaces with open enrollment from October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.
holiday-budget
3) December 6, 2013
Holiday Spending: Four Ways to Give Fully and Frugally
It’s about that time of year. If you are participating in holiday shopping and/or gift giving, here are four ways to take the bite out of the bill...4) June 20, 2013
Your Email Inbox: The Weakest Link?
Your email account is a major target of identity thieves and it takes good email hygiene and a plan for dealing with compromised accounts to keep them at bay.

5) May 9, 2013
Elissa’s “Confessions of a Cobbler”
You know the saying about the cobbler’s children having no shoes? I have to confess to being a bit of a cobbler. Okay, my children have shoes – real and financial planning ones.

Top Five “Firm News and Events” Posts:
WEDDJ Group Photo WEB 1) November 21, 2013
Yeske Buie Retreat and Open House in San Francisco
The Yeske Buie Team came together earlier this month for one of our semi-annual staff retreats, this one focused on mindfulness and servant leadership. 

2) October 24, 2013
Elissa Awarded Financial Planning Profession’s Highest Honor
FPA® awarded the profession’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award, the P. Kemp Fain Jr. award, to Elissa Buie, CFP®, CEO of Yeske Buie.

3) July 3, 2013
Congratulations Summar and Will!
Our Client Service Administrator Summar Alaskary and her fiancé Will Briede were married last Friday, June 28 at a beautiful ceremony and reception in Chantilly, VA.4) April 11, 2013
The Power Couple
GGU Magazine’s Spring issue cover story, “The Power Couple,” profiles Elissa and Dave and their team approach to teaching, financial planning, and living.

5) March 28, 2013
Financial Planning Competency Handbook
Elissa and Dave collectively contributed 30 chapters to CFP Board’s first-of-its-kind  “Financial Planning Competency Handbook,” published by John Wiley & Sons.

Top Five “Fun Stuff” Posts:
1) September 26, 2013
The Science of Happiness – An Experiment in Gratitude
More recent research suggests that consciously expressing gratitude can powerfully enhance your happiness. 

2) July 8, 2013
Adrift: An Homage to the Fog of San Francisco Bay
A beautiful look at the weather feature that so defines San Francisco.
experiment-in-gratitude
3) March 23, 2013
Stand By Me
A global rendition of the classic Ben E. King song Stand By Me from the documentary “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music.” 

4) August 29, 2013
A Pep Talk from Kid President to You
Kid President says it is time to wake up and “create something that will make the world awesome”. 

5) November 8, 2013
Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon
After months of training, Elissa and Dave accomplished their goal of walking 13.1 miles by participating in the Healdsburg Half Marathon in Wine Country.

Top Five Most Popular Posts Of All Time:
banco sabadell flash mob 1) December 19, 2012
Perhaps the most beautiful flash mob ever . . .
Our good friend Ed Jacobson, PhD, author of Appreciative Moments, sent us a video we thought you’d appreciate. Elissa called it “perhaps the most beautiful flash mob ever. 

2) June 20, 2010
Chaotic Systems, or why the market is a lot like the weather
Why should the radar map of a storm that swept Oklahoma in 1999, spawning 7 tornadoes and $1 billion in damage resemble SmartMoney.com’s Map of the Market?

3) June 6, 2013
Managing Risk when Rebalancing into Bonds
Strong stock market gains have triggered rebalancing into bonds at a time when many consider the bond market expensive. Out of the frying pan and into the fire?4) April 3, 2013
The Great Disinformation: Why David Stockman is Wrong
Ideology, not economics, is at the center of Stockman’s arguments.  And his ideology is whole and consistent and dyspeptic and dystopian. Here’s why he’s wrong.

The next piece was published three days before the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to its lowest point of the Great Recession. While the news had been filled with stories of a crumbling economy for nearly a year at this point, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September of the preceding year had set the stage for six months of worsening news and growing anxiety. This article was an invitation to step back from the doom and gloom of the nightly news and contemplate those things in life that really matter and the many ways to “Live Big” without spending money. The article catapulted Elissa and Dave to the cover of Financial Advisor Magazine and a mention in Time.

5) March 6, 2009
What does it mean to Live Big® in these trying times?
What does Live Big mean?  Some may interpret it as meaning “spend big”, “live large” or a recommendation to some other form of overindulgence.  But Live Big is not about the size of your wallet, it’s about the size of your life.  In these crazy economic times, it can sometimes be difficult to remember the areas in our life where we can Live Big without spending (much, if any) money.  But if we can find the place of gratitude for what we have, we can find joy in the most mundane of places, and, hopefully, at least get our minds off of how scary the world can feel at times.

Here’s wishing you and yours a Happy New Year!

*TM