Lumination Blog — Luminate Financial Planning

Investing Is More Than Just Picking Investments

A common theme I discuss with my clients is the fact that there's a lot more to financial planning and investing than just picking the right investments. Further, investing itself is not even primarily based on the study of finance. More than anything, investing is about how people behave with money. And guess what? It turns out that teaching good investor behavior is really hard to do! It's not as simple as pointing to a few clever equations, memorizing a formula or building an Excel spreadsheet. It's not about what you know -- it's about your actions and behaviors.

behavioral economicsAlyssa LumSeptember 22, 2018investing

It's FAFSA Time!

October 1st is right around the corner, and if you've got a high school senior, that means it's time to start preparing for the FAFSA®.

First off, FAFSA actually stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. To apply for federal student aid for college, you need to complete the FAFSA form at fafsa.gov.

Federal student aid comes from the federal government (U.S. Department of Education). It’s money that helps a student pay for higher education expenses.

college planningAlyssa LumSeptember 7, 2018financial aid

How to Underwrite a Meaningful Life (Part 2)

Last month I wrote a blog post about Brian Portnoy's book, The Geometry of Wealth. I got so much out of the book that today I want to dive in a little deeper to some of the topics he discusses.

The overall focus of the book is how to use your wealth to underwrite a meaningful life.

5 Crucial College Planning Tips for Middle School Parents

I work with a lot of families who have kids planning to attend college in the next 5-10 years. Many families don't get serious about college funding and planning until their kids get to high school and it becomes too hard to ignore!

How to Underwrite a Meaningful Life

I recently read the new book The Geometry of Wealth by Brian Portnoy and found it to be one of the most insightful books on personal finance I have read in years. I love this book because it's not just about money -- it's about life! I highly recommend it to anyone interested in building wealth and using your wealth to underwrite a meaningful life.

financial planning, personal financeAlyssa LumJuly 25, 2018saving, spending, budgeting

10 Minute Guide to College Financial Aid

There is a ton of information on the Internet about college financial aid, some of it conflicting, some of the pointless, some of it actually helpful. My goal for this guide is for you to spend 10 minutes of your time getting answers to some of your college financial aid questions without spending three hours searching on Google!