By Jared Johnson, Shareholder & Wealth Manager

At Echo Wealth Management, your security is our priority. As cybersecurity threats evolve in sophistication and reach, we want to ensure our clients are not only aware of potential risks but also equipped with trusted resources and clear steps for protection. In collaboration with Schwab, we offer this guide to help you stay informed, vigilant, and prepared.

At Echo Wealth Management (EWM), Jared Johnson isn’t just crunching numbers—he’s creating strategies that turn financial goals into reality. As a Shareholder and Wealth Manager, Jared plays a key role in portfolio management, trading, and financial planning, ensuring every client has a clear, customized path to success.

You might be thinking…
Other people get disabled, not me.
My business can run without me.
I’d rather put my money into growing my business.

The truth is illness and injury impact all of us, even businesses. Whether you are a key employee or business owner, understanding the possible outcomes of a temporary or permanent disability will help you to identify smart solutions for your financial plan.

On paper, retiring at the same time as your spouse sounds like a no-brainer! If you both retire together, then you would be free to travel the world, take up some new hobbies, and spend more quality time together as a couple. Chances are that you’ve not been able to enjoy these luxuries much over the past 20, 30, or more years. This is because, by the time we are nearing retirement, we have only recently said our goodbyes to our youngest child, and spouses have seen little of each other as day-to-day obligations eat up alone time.

It is for these reasons that simultaneous retirement has its appeal. However, it is vital, especially for women, to know where the pitfalls lie.

Sometimes, the unknown can be a bit scary. Previously, I’ve shared several financial tips that will allow you to plan for your financial independence and to own your future. Today, I want to ask you to give me a few somber minutes of your time.

I am asking you to turn off your emotions and turn on your intellect only. This way, you will be protected from your emotions entering in and shutting you off from discussing a tough but important topic: Long-Term Care. Come out from under the blanket for a few moments to learn about this important element of financial planning. Let’s look at what it is, and I promise you, it’s not as scary as you might think.

If you are planning for your future then, hopefully, you have put some thought into saving for retirement. When planning for retirement, there are many important factors to consider, such as how much investment risk is appropriate for your financial goals – and your comfort level. If what I have mentioned so far resonates with you, then the next question is, should you invest in stocks or bonds for your retirement savings?

There is a lot to unpack here because every investment has risks. When the stock market goes up, the usual pattern is that the bond market goes down (usually due to the Federal Reserve Bank increasing interest rates), but market cycles can be very strange indeed. In 2018, both the stock and bond markets lost money. In 2019, both the stock and bond markets had great returns. In 2020, the stock market had a sharp decline in the Spring and recovered, while the bond market had a steady, positive return as we dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. This is precisely why everyone needs a solid education in investment planning, whether working alone or with an advisor, to determine risk tolerance and, on that basis, the right asset allocation to maximize after-tax risk-adjusted returns.

We all know the classic saying, “time is money,” right? We also know that time and money are the two things we often wish we had more of. The key to time management and overall life quality will always be finding that balance between what you have to do, what you want to do, and figuring out how to afford it all.

I know that I usually share about financial planning topics here. However, today, I wanted to share about something that’s equally important and still related: The idea of outsourcing specific tasks and responsibilities in your life to free up time to do the more valuable – and profitable – things.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranked the United States 29^th out of 34 countries in work-life balance. Outsourcing some of your daily tasks may be a more efficient use of resources than taking the valuable time to do it all yourself. Sure, we could all learn to change our oil or fix a leaky faucet, but by paying a professional to handle these tasks, we free ourselves up to focus on other things, like our work, which, in the long run, will make us more money rather than losing it.

For example, if you make $100 an hour at your job, and it takes you 3 hours to do a deep clean of your house, it essentially costs you $300 to clean your house. If you can have a service clean it for $150 in 3 hours, you’re saving money and outsourcing the labor. This is called “Opportunity Cost” – the next highest valued alternative use of a resource.

When you’ve reached a point where your wealth management strategies have paid off and you are comfortable in life, giving back is something you can do that will bring a great sense of fulfillment to your life and allow you to leave a legacy to the community, people, and causes you care about.

However, there is still a lot of confusion about giving and ways to give. Most people write a check and fail to benefit from the tax reduction opportunities to maximize the good they are going to do for themselves and for their charity of choice.

Charitable giving can give you a sense of satisfaction that can enrich your life. Charitable giving is a win-win experience. Let’s now explore a few best practices in charitable giving.