Personal

How Retirees Can Replace Their Income in a Low-Yield Environment

June 23, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we interview Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on low-yield bonds. During this episode, Christine gives her perspective on what retirees can do in the current low-yield environment. She encourages retirees to consider a total return approach to their portfolios. Each year take a step back and determine the best place to pull cash flows. Christine believes the best location for retirees to go for cash flows is hiding in plain sight. In their appreciated equity holdings. Trimming appreciated holdings is a way to supply cash flows for a couple of years while reducing risk in the portfolio. The key is to not be dogmatic about your income, but being a tad eclectic in your approach. At Intelligent Investing, we believe in a total return approach when it comes to our clients’ income needs By combining both ordinary income from dividends and interest along with selling appreciated investments that have capital gains, we can help supplement our retiree’s cash needs from the portfolio. By not being dogmatic, we believe the flexibility provides more tax planning opportunities and may lower the tax burden from solely focusing on just dividends or interest which can be taxed at much higher rates. To learn more about our philosophy, please visit investedwithyou.com. Schedule a short discovery call or meeting We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Christine Benz is Morningstar’s director of personal finance and author of 30-Minute Money Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances and the Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Russian/East European studies from the University of Illinois. Christine lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg. She is an avid cook, a political junkie, and a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan. Follow Christine on Twitter.

Balancing Work, Life, and Ministry

June 17, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

On this episode of Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll be interviewing Shelly Hamilton on balancing work, life, and ministry. There’s nothing more all-consuming than running a business. Shelly and Ron Hamilton faced an interesting situation because their business was also their ministry. During this episode, Shelly stresses the importance of enjoying your family and life while balancing all these areas. In fact, Shelly believes including their kids in the business brought them closer as a family.

If you’ve been listening to Intelligent Money Minute, you’ll realize the phrase “Time is Money, so Invest in every minute” is so true. Our time is our number one resource and limited. One of the 4 unique factors that separate us from other advisors and firms is that we maximize time. We do this in a number of ways, but the goal is to be able to maximize our clients lives. We strive for excellence and efficiency so our clients don’t have to waste their time. If you’d like to learn more about Intelligent Investing or would like to become a client, please visit investedwithyou.com and click on the “Get Started” button.

If you haven’t subscribed to our podcasts, you can go to our podcast page and choose whichever method you want to download them. While you are there, you can go to our blog page and subscribe so you can get our latest Intelligent Insights directly in your inbox.

Shelly Hamilton Bio

Shelly Hamilton, the daughter of Frank Garlock, married Ron Hamilton aka “Patch the Pirate” in 1975. They have managed Majesty Music and written sacred music for children and adults since they joined the ministry in 1978. Shelly currently ministers at Majesty Music as pianist, composer, arranger, and recording producer. In 2013, their son killed himself after years of struggle with mental health issues. The family’s public struggle and acknowledgement of mental health issues has reached people around the world. Most recently her family faces a new challenge: Ron Hamilton’s early onset of dementia. Her insight and music will encourage anyone facing the challenges of life.

In January 2018 Majesty Music announced their third generation of leadership. After years of waiting for God’s timing, Ron and Shelly transitioned the ministry over to their son-in-law Representative Adam Morgan and his wife, Ron and Shelly’s daughter, Megan.

The Value of Having a Broad Knowledge of Financial Topics

June 3, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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The Value of Having a Broad Knowledge of Financial Topics

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we interview Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz on the value of having a broad knowledge of financial topics. Recently, Christine Benz was named in Barron’s Top 100 Influential Women for her dedication and impact in the financial industry. During this episode, Christine describes her journey at Morning Star and what she’s gleaned along the way. She started as a copy editor when her career started at Morning Star. While working as a copy editor, Christine took advantage of the educational resources and realized an aptitude for finance. Christine became a financial analyst, but she still had a desire to work on a broader financial scope. She took the CFP exam and transitioned to personal finance. The world of finance is vast, and Christine stresses the value of having a broad knowledge of financial topics. As Christine has written many articles and books on a broad financial set of topics, at Intelligent Investing, we too have a library of information on our website. Visit our library to watch videos, read blogs, and listen to podcasts on a variety of topics. On our blog page, you can even sort by topic, or type in the search bar what you are looking for. We love educating the public and our clients, and hope you find our resources useful. Schedule a short discovery call or meeting We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

Faith in the Midst of Transition: Losing a Spouse to Alzheimer’s

May 20, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

During this episode, Shelly opens up about the challenges of losing her husband to Alzheimer’s. Retirement looks a lot different than what Shelly and Ron had imagined. Instead of enjoying time off work and worldwide traveling, Shelly has cared for Ron whose battled dementia for many years. As we talked, Shelly stressed how important it was for her to continue believing in God’s sovereign plan for her life. Often, she reminded herself that she’s on assignment and that taking care of Ron is part of that mission.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, it is estimated that 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s. Of those who reach the age of 85, nearly one in two will get it. One of our most popular blogs on our website, is “10 Tips for Caring for a Spouse Who Has Become a Child” You can find this blog, by heading to “Blogs” and click on the “Healthcare” category at the top.

As Shelly mentioned, facing the trial of when a spouse becomes a child is not something you want to handle all alone. If you are a husband or wife who doesn’t have a financial advisor or planner, I can’t urge you enough to find one that you can entrust to become involved in your finances. We’d love to grab a cup of coffee or have a quick phone call if you find yourself in this situation. We’d be happy to listen to your needs, and whether we may be a good fit to be your financial stewardship partner.

Shelly Hamilton Bio

Getting to Know Morningstar’s Christine Benz

May 13, 2021 by Trevor Baker

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Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we interview Morningstar’s director of personal finance, Christine Benz. Recently, Christine Benz was named in Barron’s Top 100 Influential Women for her dedication and impact in the financial industry. During this episode, we take a moment to learn more about who Christine is and what she loves to do in her spare time. Often, we can forget that these thought leaders and innovators are people too. Amidst all the prestigious accolades, Christine Benz is a renowned author, avid traveler (pre-covid), and risotto master. We hope you enjoy getting to know Christine Benz more on this more casual episode of Intelligent Money Minute. I don’t know about you, but after this episode I was hungry for some risotto. We like to get to know our guests and hope you do as well. Christine has a wealth of financial knowledge and we’ll be sharing more episodes with her in the near future. We also like to get to know our clients on a personal level, and if you are interested in becoming the next intelligent investor, please visit our website, investedwithyou.com and click on “Get Started.” Schedule a short discovery call or meeting We’ll be interviewing Christine on several podcasts regarding retirement strategies, passive investing, and diversification, so be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts.

Christine Benz Bio

The Hardest Decision a Child Will Have to Make (Part 2)

April 21, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

In our previous post, we talked about how many seniors unrealistically believe they can take care of themselves for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, and we discussed the importance of regular communication and how to deal with stubborn parents. This post is a continuation of that theme…

Make Sure All Siblings Are Unified

It is vital that all siblings and family members are on the same page. It often only takes one disgruntled child who urges the parent to stay in his home to make placement nearly impossible. Sometimes this challenging sibling isn’t even the one taking care of the parent or may live far away without first-hand knowledge of the situation.

Avoid Extraneous “Baggage”

When families get together, there can sometimes be personal “baggage” brought to the table. It is best to avoid unnecessary confrontation or sensitive family subjects, for the good of the parent. Remember, don’t be selfish. It is not about your issue or past grievance, it is about what’s best for your parent.

Power of Attorney

Important items to address include financial issues to pay for the parent’s living expenses, and who will act as the elder’s durable power of attorney for health care. One capable person should be appointed as the elder’s primary advocate. This person, whether a son (or daughter-in-law) or daughter or adult grandchild, should oversee financial decisions and act as the elder’s durable power of attorney for health care.

Dealing with the Guilt

No matter how smoothly the process goes, children often retain guilt about moving elderly parents to a long-term care facility, especially, if they are religious. Regardless of whether you promised to never put a parent in a nursing home, the decision about placement must be based on what’s best for the parent at a given time.

Remember, putting a parent in a nursing home may be the most loving act that a child can do because it may improve the quality of the parent’s life from medical and social perspectives. Nursing homes vary in quality but in general, are places where parents often thrive.

Remember, putting a parent in a nursing home may be the most loving act that a child can do because it may improve the quality of the parent's life from medical and social perspectives. Share on X

Forming a Caregiving Team

Caregiving is a family affair. It is important to gather your siblings, children, uncles and aunts together to address an ailing loved one’s needs. Have a meeting and discuss the problem, without the parent present. Remember to never go it alone.

You may also want to include a financial advisor, home care provider, and elder care attorney on your caregiving team. A financial advisor may be able to help answer financial questions related to placing mom or dad in an assisted living or skilled care home. A wealth manager may help preserve capital for your aging parent and help with determining the best way to fund the assisted living home. The home care provider may be able to “shop around” for the ideal next home for your parent. An elder care attorney can help with legal questions related to your aging parents.

We’d like to be part of your Caregiving Team

Intelligent Investing’s first core value is Compassion. We think that it is important to give generously to those in need, and your parent is now the one in need. We may be able to help you organize your parents’ “financial junk drawers.” We can also manage their remaining assets in a way that helps preserve them to pay for their next place of living. We can be your “financial quarterback” in organizing the key professional players you need input from. We often collaborate with several professionals who deal with issues that may be outside of your wheelhouse. As you face this emotional time in your life, we would be honored to serve with you and help you tackle the toughest decision you may ever face.

Faith in the Midst of Tragedy: Losing a Child to Mental Illness

March 18, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

During this episode, Shelly opens up about the mental illness that ailed her late son Jonathan. Around 19 years old, Jonathan Hamilton took an acne medicine that sent him into a clinical depression. Upon further examination, the doctors diagnosed Jonathan with schizophrenia. After seven years with no solutions, a Christian psychiatrist found a combination of medicine that enabled Jonathan to function. During this period, Jonathan penned beautiful songs published by Majesty Music and began working again. Fifteen years into his illness, a generic version of his medication became available, which removed the insurance coverage of Jonathan’s specialized medicine. Unknown to Ron and Shelly, Jonathan chose to go off the generic medication and tragically took his own life on Mother’s Day. Losing their son rattled Ron and Shelly’s world. In the midst of their tragedy, they remained strong in the faith believing in God’s providential plan for their life. Jonathan left a lasting legacy and a testimony that has touched the lives of many.

As Shelly pointed out in her life verse, the Just shall live by faith. You may be wondering why this episode is on a financial podcast, and the reason is that death and tragedy are all part of life. Many facing trials and tragedies turn to faith, and we hope this has been an encouragement to those who are facing similar trials including mental illness, suicide, or the death of a child. One of Intelligent Investing’s Core Values is Truth, and we believe that speaking the truth in love is a way to show compassion on others. Sometimes the truth hurts or is hard to say, and we hope this episode has been an encouragement to those facing similar tragedies. Be sure to subscribe to our Intelligent Money Minute podcasts to hear our many interviews with Shelly and her family by going to our podcast page.

Shelly Hamilton Bio

Faith in the Midst of Trials

March 4, 2021 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

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Reading Time: 2 minutes

For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold. These are the words that Ron Hamilton penned as he faced cancer which eventually took his eye. Ron and Shelly Hamilton had only been married three years when they received the news that Ron had cancer in his eye. Initially, the doctors speculated that his cancer could spread further into his brain, which would prohibit any surgical operations. Shelly had to come to grips with the reality that she may lose her husband after only three years of marriage. Thankfully, God had a different plan for Ron and Shelly. The doctors removed Ron’s eye and through that trial was the birth of the Patch the Pirate adventures.

As Shelly points out, God often turns our greatest trials in our lives into the greatest blessings of our lives. At Intelligent Investing, we understand that managing your wealth and finances is a small fraction of your entire life. Our goal is to help be your accountability partner, and advisor, as you face various trials in your life. We’d be honored to have a quick cup of coffee or a call to talk about what is going on in your world, and see if we may be a good fit to assist you as we go through life together.