Wealth with Intention

Part One: Understanding Interest Rates

If you’ve been concerned about rising interest rates, you’re not alone. With rates at historically low levels for so long, it’s something we’ve been preparing for for a while now. Still, it’s something we will continue to keep a close eye on and we want you to have a solid understanding of what this means to you. 

In March, The Federal Reserve raised its federal target funds rate by a quarter point. It was the first increase since December 2018, but it wasn’t a huge surprise. Fed Chair Jerome Powell had already said we should expect as much, with the potential for additional increases before the year-end.

Along with interest rates, inflation remains a related topic of conversation, not to mention the economic toll and humanitarian tragedy being wrought by Russia’s actions. Unfortunately, there is only so much we can do to alleviate the heartbreaking news coming out of Ukraine. 

But as a financial planner, I can at least help you put these related ...

Most year-end tax content shows up in late November, which is roughly the moment it stops being useful. By then your open enrollment window has closed, your charitable strategy is whatever you happened to do, and your only remaining move is writing a check.

It's August. You have four months and real options. That's the whole reason I'm publishing this now.

2026 is also a year where the rules genuinely moved. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed how charitable deductions work, raised the SALT cap, and reshaped a few things that were stable for years. Some of those changes take effect for the first time on this year's return. A plan built on 2024 assumptions will miss them.

Balance is a principle that works almost everywhere it is applied. A balanced nutritional program beats an unbalanced one. A balanced week beats a frantic one. Portfolios are no different, though the reason is more specific than the analogy suggests.

Diversifying across style, geography, and asset class has historically reduced volatility. That is not just a statistic on a page. A smoother ride is what makes it possible to stay buckled in when markets get rough, which is exactly where the consistency principle does its work. Balance, consistency, and courage are not three separate ideas. Balance is what makes the other two survivable, and the overview of all three principles covers how they connect.

The short answer

A balanced portfolio is not a hedge against being wrong. It is an admission, built into the structure of the portfolio itself, that nobody knows which asset class will lead next. Diversification does not improve your forecast. It removes your need for one.

• Last year's
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Courage is the principle people picture wrong. It sounds like a bold move made at the bottom of a crash. In practice, it is almost always the opposite: sitting still while every instinct you have argues for action.

A historical perspective helps inform and guide investment decisions, and I have written about how that pairs with the investing principle of consistency. But perspective alone is not enough. Holding a disciplined position through uncertainty and fear takes something more, and that is where courage comes in. It is one of three principles we come back to constantly, and the overview of all three explains how they connect.

The short answer

Courage in investing is the willingness to keep following your plan when the market gives you every reason not to. It is rarely dramatic. It usually means continuing contributions during a decline, rebalancing toward what has fallen, and declining to move to cash because the news is loud.

• From 1980 through 2025, the S&P 500 fell by an a
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Consistency is the least glamorous principle of investing and the one that does the most work. Staying invested through a downturn is not passivity. It is a decision, and for anyone with a meaningful portfolio, it is usually the highest-value decision you will make all year.

When you listen to financial news commentators, markets can feel capricious and arbitrary. Over the short term, that is fairly accurate. Over the long term, a handful of universal principles tend to govern results, and they guide every wealth management and investment decision we make at Intentional Wealth Partners.

The short answer

Investors who stay invested through volatility have historically captured returns that investors who move to cash do not. Over the 30 years from 1996 through 2025, an investor who missed just the 10 best days in the S&P 500 Index would have seen their return cut in half. Missing the 30 best days would have reduced the return by 84%. The best days cluster tightly around the worst ones...

A self-directed 401(k) or 403(b) is an additional investment option to the traditional retirement plans offered by your employer. It might be available to you and you don’t even realize it. In those traditional plans, your employer pre-approves funds you can invest in, whereas a self-directed 401(k) or 403(b) allows for a little more flexibility in choosing what you can invest in.

Whether it’s you or someone outside your company’s organization, the option of a self-directed 401(k) could be great for you if you like having a little more say in where your money goes. It’s important to note that not all employers offer this option, so check with your organization to see if you’re able to participate in a self-directed brokerage of your investments.

Do you know what’s happening with your money? 

I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who have no idea how their 401(k) is invested. It’s usually not managed well because they don’t know how to select their investments nor do they hav...

Whether you are a relatively new investor or you've been at for a while, the recent market swings have not been for the faint of heart. Yes, it's common knowledge that what goes up, must come down. However, even if you view market volatility as a regular occurrence, it can be tough to handle when you're watching your account balance drop.

While there's no fool-proof way to handle the ups and downs of the stock market, the following common-sense investor tips can help.

6 Investor Tips to Help You Stay the Course

• Don't put your eggs all in one basket
• Focus on the big picture
• Look before you leap
• There is a silver lining to market volatility if you look for it
• Temper your optimism
• Don't stick your head in the sand

Investor Tip #1: Don't put your eggs all in one basket

Diversifying your investment portfolio is one of the key ways you can handle market volatility. Because asset classes often perform differently under different market conditions, spreading your assets across a variety of ...

Building wealth is rarely about one dramatic move. It's about a series of small decisions that compound, quietly, over years.

That's the whole idea behind a financial tip of the day. Instead of overhauling your entire financial life in a weekend, you pick up one habit at a time until the habits do the heavy lifting for you.

Below are 30 of them. None require a finance degree. Most take under an hour to set up. Read through, pick the two or three that hit closest to home, and start there.

Automate What You Can (Tips 1–5)

Willpower is a finite resource. Systems aren't. Every decision you can move to autopilot is a decision you don't have to make again.

Tip #1: Put recurring bills on autopay

Late fees are the most...