In the last 60 days, two Atlanta companies sold for more than $700 million.  Founders, employees and investors who toiled for years with the hope of a better future realized their dream.  They became financially independent in an instant. But as history has shown us, liquid wealth can create problems. Malcolm Gladwell’s new book David…

If you’ve never heard of financial physics, no worries, it’s just like regular physics. There are fundamental laws of cash flow that apply to every situation. It does not matter if you are a government, business or person. Violate these fundamental truths and you put yourself at risk. I have created these principles by studying…

Bricolage is a French word every financial planner should be familiar with. The core meaning of the word is to be creative and resourceful with whatever materials at hand regardless of their original purpose. To be able to adjust and innovate in real time. Musicians call it “playing by ear.” A chef uses bricolage in…

A blindfolded human being will walk in circles, not a straight line. We hear stories about lost hikers walking in circles for days which seems odd since walking a straight line seems like it should be second nature. It is not. Jan Souman, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany,…

Sounds exciting. Living your entire life forever postponing life. This is the path the financial factory needs you to follow. Every story they tell reinforces the money myth. The goal of this of course is to convince you to live on a perpetual investment hamster wheel. This wheel provides the factory with a perpetual income…

You can’t escape them.  The “experts” are everywhere, on TV and radio – gurus like Clark Howard, Suze Orman, and Dave Ramsey distribute financial advice to the aspirational.  In almost every single case the financial advice given tells you that if you don’t save today, you will be broke tomorrow.   Really? I just sat with…

I recently had lunch with a lawyer who tried more than 150 arbitration cases against every brokerage firm in the industry. The arbitration panel is staffed by people from the industry, and it prevents anyone who is not affiliated with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) from participating. In other words, fee-only advisors are excluded because…

When was the last time you went to the doctor because you felt great? The impetus for making that appointment is usually preceded with discomfort, pain, or just a general sick feeling. Normalcy rarely creates action. Financial advisors and physicians are similar in this way. Both are usually on the receiving end of something gone…

If you’re not from the South, that strange vine that seems to permeate every vacant space is called Kudzu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu).  Native to southern Japan and southeast China,  it was introduced into the US in 1876 to combat soil erosion.  If you drive across any southern state, the impact of Kudzu is painfully clear.   When it arrived in…

A lot has happened in the three months here at Holcombe Financial. We had a wonderful turnout for our open house. We welcomed Marcia Mayoue to the firm and at the same time showed off our new office. Today we are launching our Only Get Rich Once blog as a thoughtful resource for all who…