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Whether you are driving through the city and staring at office buildings, through the suburbs and looking at homes and apartments, or in the middle of the country passing endless miles of farmland, real estate is abounding. Today, we are going to think about real estate in a different light – as an investment opportunity.

You may have wondered, is art an investment? The short answer is yes, but there is no balance sheet, cash flow or earnings to help determine its value. Perhaps that’s one reason many collectors treat the investment value of art as an afterthought. A recent study from Swiss Bank UBS found that a quarter of wealthy investors have collections, with about 10 percent collecting art. Among collectors, 51 percent had never obtained an appraisal, 44 percent had no insurance on their collection and 39 percent could not estimate the value of their collection.

Creating an art collection and tending to its value as an investment do not need to be mutually exclusive goals. Here are our tips for approaching art as an investment:

FOMO is one of the biggest emotional traps in investing. The tendency to concentrate on investments that have recently appreciated and abandon those that have recently declined in value is all too human. 

Published in the Baltimore Business Journal:  January 12, 2018

The decision to get a new vehicle is sometimes made for  you such as when your old car breaks down and the repairs are too costly to justify. On the other hand, sometimes, purchasing a new car is an impulsive decision after seeing a multi-million-dollar advertising campaign on television and getting that “must have” urge.  And sometimes it is in between; you have had your car for ten years and you deserve a new car with the latest technology and safety features. In either case, while the new vehicle buying process is typically exciting and fun, it may also be stressful as you figure out how to pay for your new and shiny ride. 

If you have recently heard about bitcoin and are curious to know more about it, you aren't alone. Find out answers to questions like:

Originally published in Baltimore Business Journal on November 10, 2017

Playing with grandkids, travelling, sitting back “without a care in the world” or volunteering for a local charitable organization. These are just a few ways to visualize your retirement years.  Nobody wants to think about anything less than the ideal, healthy, fulfilling retirement years.

Originally published in Baltimore Business Journal on March 10, 2017

New Job? What do you do with your old employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan? Explore four options available to you during an employment transition.

In a world that is getting more and more digital by the day, protecting our sensitive information is more important than ever. The recent breach of Equifax’s massive database has everyone questioning the best course of action to protect themselves from being a victim of identity fraud. Read three methods to protect yourself from identity fraud.

A headline we hear of all too often…It seems as though every year we hear about another professional athlete that files for bankruptcy. It is unfathomable to think a person who earns tens of millions of dollars a year can file for bankruptcy. What causes an athlete from making more money than most people do in a lifetime down the path of “going broke.”

With the cost of college education rising year-after-year, it is no surprise saving for a child’s college education is top-of-mind for most parents. While it is prudent to start putting money aside for college as early as possible, the question becomes, “Where is the best place to save for this?”