ADVICE

By SFMG Wealth Advisors | ContributorAt SFMG Wealth Advisors, we are not just wealth advisors. We are the team that gets invited to your retirement parties, the ones you call when a big life change is on the horizon, and the familiar faces you trust to help navigate whatever comes next. Founded in 2002 and locally owned, we are a Dallas-based, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor serving high-net-worth families, business owners, executives, and private equity investors. As fiduciaries, we are required to act in our clients’ best interest, and our mission is simple: to help provide you with Confidence for Life.That confidence does not stop at the portfolio. In today’s digital world, protecting your wealth means protecting the accounts, devices, and inboxes that touch it every single day. ...

Making health-conscious decisions with your at-home menu doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require commitment and a little more foresight at the grocery store. Simple adjustments to overall eating patterns, like building your plate around produce, powerful proteins and whole grains, can encourage better health.Nutritious meal planning can be easy, affordable and delicious — and it all starts with a little balance. Consider this advice from the American Heart Association’s Healthy for Good initiative, nationally sponsored by the Egg Nutrition Center, to adequately round out a healthy plate.Fill Half Your Plate with Fruits and VeggiesLoaded with nutrients, fresh produce is a perfect place to start each plate. Fill about half your plate with combinations of bananas, strawberries, bl...

Lilly Pidgeon | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Liveitrong.comWho doesn’t love a celebration?But make no mistake – a celebration is most rewarding after plenty of hard work and determination; and the tougher the task at hand, the sweeter the success. Now, as we toast to our 10thanniversary, the GLF team and I look back with a lot to celebrate. We have gone out on a limb in every aspect of our lives but, like Mark Twain famously said, “Why not go out on a limb? Isn’t that where the fruit is?” I can say with conviction that I have never worked (professionally speaking) as hard on anything as I have onLiveitrongand Liveitrong.com. I have invested my heart, mind and resources into making GLF a PUBLICATION WITH A PURPOSE. We have grown, we have gained momentum, and we aremaking a difference. In ...

By Tanni Haas, Ph.D.Here are some podcasts to help you can make the most of your hard-earned money. The thing about podcasts is that you can listen to them whenever you have a spare moment, even when you’re doing other things. Here’s a list of some my favorite podcasts aimed at helping parents manage their money.“Frugal Friends”(Available at: Apple, Audible, Spotify)There are many sound approaches to money-management including minimizing your spending, sticking to a set budget, or investing in assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate. As the name implies, Frugal Friendsadvocates one specific approach: spend as little as possible. Hosted by two long-time friends, Jen Smith and Jill Sirianni, this podcast helps parents find creative ways to save on their expenses. Recent episodes focus ...

By Family Features | ContributorFor teenagers, retirement may seem like a lifetime away, but it’s never too early to start saving for the future. Because financial habits can be created at a young age, the sooner kids begin to save and learn about investing, the less likely they’ll face worries about money when they eventually stop working.Teens are already thinking about retirement, according to the AchievementTeens & Retirement Surveyconducted by Wakefield Research on behalf ofJunior AchievementandMissionSquare Retirement’s Foundation.Among young adults ages 13-18 surveyed,83% have thought about their retirement and 78% believe they’ll be able to retire comfortably when the time comes. However, only 60% view retirement as living on investments and savings after leaving work, believin...

By Kenneth Terrell,AARP | ContributorWithmillions of job openings currently left unfilled, there should be plenty of opportunities for older adults to get hired or switch careers now. But for many experienced workers, age discrimination continues to be an obstacle.According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were more than 11.3 million jobs waiting to be filled at the end of January 2022 (the month recent month for which data is available). Yet even with so much demand to hire more workers, 36.1 percent of workers age 55 and older were long-term unemployed, meaning they had not been able to land a job in 27 weeks or more. For people between the ages of 16 and 54, the long-term unemployment rate was much lower, at 23.7 percent.Age discrimination alone doesn’t explain that empl...

By Colleen Benzin | ContributorTeen Drivers—the best of times and the worst of times. Having a teen driver is so awesome (less carpools for you!) and so terrifying (we don’t have to tell you that), but luckily there is a ton of great information out there on how you can prepare your child to be a responsible driver and prepare your family to have a new driver in the house.Teach them about distracted drivingWhen you’re a parent of a teen, one of the scariest milestones is when they’re learning how to drive. You’re so worried about them learning skills like merging properly and remembering to check their rear-view mirror, it’s easy to forget to warn them against one of the biggest road risks—distracted driving.When we think “distracted driving”, our minds often jump to texting and driving. B...

By Dr. Melanie Ross Mills| ContributorJanuary is behind you.How are you faring on your New Year’s resolutions?Studies have shown that after a year only about 15% of people have been successful at keeping their resolutions. New Year’s resolutions are a great way to give your life direction toward your goals, but January 1st isn’t the only time to make a life change.Nowis an excellent time for a new start if, perhaps, our New Year’s resolutions didn’t go quite as well as we hoped (and even if they did). A fresh new season is here for us to embrace new routines, new ways of thinking, and new beginnings. Not as a resolution this time, but as a life change…..Where to start?No need for a long list. Choose one or two key words that will guide you daily as you make decisions and new lifestyle choi...

By Vanita Halliburton | ContributorWe’ve all heard the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” Even though we know better, we sometimes let ourselves believe that other families are faring better in the child-rearing department than we are. We can convince ourselves that other parents have used this time of social distancing to make delicious family dinners every night, have meaningful heart-to-hearts with their teens, and teach them important life lessons. Peering through rose-colored windows into their homes, we think we see better-adjusted, higher-achieving, problem-free, perfectly behaved children who are gliding happily through adolescence toward becoming model teens and successful young adults.We need to get over that notion. It’s just not true. The stat...

Donald Hooton, Jr.The course of your life can change directions in an instant.In July 2003 and in his senior year of college, Donald Hooton, Jr. was preparing to start a career with his business degree.That’s when he got the call from his sister that their 17-year-old brother Taylor had passed away.What shocked their family the most was that Taylor had committed suicide.All of the family had just one question.Why?It was the detectives who found the steroids in his room.At that time, the Hooton family didn’t see the connection, but they’ve learned.They’ve learned about steroid use and its psychological effects, and the link to suicide. And they learned the use of steroids is likely far more pervasive than you ever imagined.In the midst of their grief, his family could never have predicted h...