Financial Planning
Jennipher Lommen
Treading Carefully

Finding ways to remain calm and focused when chaos abounds is a challenge. I practice every day with varying degrees of success. What I have found is that the practice itself provides comfort. It is something to anchor me as I tread carefully in this uncertain world.

Treading Carefully
Financial Housekeeping
Jennipher Lommen
Practice, Patience, Progress

Taking time to reflect on the year helps me to see through the haze of current events and crises of the moment.

Practice, Patience, Progress
Financial Housekeeping
Jennipher Lommen
Nothing Like a Wildfire to Get Your Attention

I am a planner by nature. Once the immediate shock of an unfolding disaster became clear, I needed to do some real-time planning and preparing. It was in this moment that I realized my plan was not as tight as it should be. As the coming days and weeks unfold, my community will be facing loss, grief, coming together and rebuilding. I hope that as we do this difficult work, we will all take steps to ensure we stay safe, care for each other and get ourselves as prepared as we can for the next challenge.

Nothing Like a Wildfire to Get Your Attention
Financial Planning
Jennipher Lommen
Back to Basics with a Pandemic as a Guide

In my role as a mother, I have spent extra hours stocking the pantry, wiping down surfaces, planting a vegetable garden and filling up our medicine cabinet with all the nutritional and herbal remedies I know to help my family build our immune systems, combat stress, get good sleep and fight off illness should it strike. These activities help me maintain a small sense of control in a time of intense uncertainty. In my role as a financial planner, I find myself working with clients to do the same thing: focus on what you can control.

Back to Basics with a Pandemic as a Guide
Meridith Cook
Homeschooling High School - Part 2

One difficulty many homeschoolers encounter is how to show mastery over a subject. Ok, my child read the book. Can they find a way to show that they understood the material, digested it, made it their own? There are many ways of doing this that are NOT writing a book report!

Homeschooling High School - Part 2

financial planning

Financial Planning is a Bit Like Making Dinner

Financial Planning is a Bit Like Making Dinner

Just like making dinner for a hungry family, planning for your financial future requires flexibility and creativity. Begin with where you are and what you have. Map out where you want to go. Design plans A, B and C to help you get there with grace as you find some ingredients missing from time to time. Who knows, those last minute substitutions could be the makings of a wonderful new recipe.

Financial Triage - Dig Out and Find a Way Forward

Financial Triage - Dig Out and Find a Way Forward

When I meet or talk on the phone with someone who is experiencing a financial crisis, such as the loss of a job or spiraling debt, I try to bring the focus toward immediate next steps that can help bring relief. It is not until after this crisis is addressed that we can move on to bigger picture goals. The first thing to do is to recognize that you are not alone in your experience and that there are steps you can take to make things better day by day.