Debt is one of those financial tools that can either help build wealth or quietly work against it. It has helped families buy homes, build businesses, and acquire income-producing real estate, and it has fueled economic expansion. It has also created financial stress, damaged relationships, and limited freedom.

Families sometimes don’t track their finances at all, while others track income, bank balances, investment accounts, home values, or the performance of a particular asset. Those numbers matter, but they do not tell the whole story.

Whether you need a long-term care insurance policy is really several questions under the same umbrella. Do I need long-term care insurance at all? Should I keep the policy I already have? If someone has approached me about coverage now, which type of policy deserves consideration? And if the proposal is a paid-up policy, what exactly am I being asked to buy?

If you step back and look at the long arc of human living standards, you may realize the baseline lifestyle of modern life is closer to paradise compared with almost all of history. For most of human history, the average person lived very close to the edge, in squalid conditions.

We have recently fielded questions about the new Trump Accounts for children. Many families with young children are asking the same question right now: Should I apply for one of these new Trump Accounts?

A financial plan can look perfect on paper and still fail in real life if it ignores how a household actually operates. Two people can love each other, share values, and still get stuck around money—not because they’re “bad with finances,” but because they have different levels of fluency and interest.

A financial plan can be technically sound and still feel “off” if it doesn’t fit the people living inside it. That’s because money decisions are rarely just math. They’re tied to deeper emotional drivers—security, freedom, family, accomplishment, and meaning. Your money personality is the pattern behind those drivers: how you naturally think, feel, and act around money.

A second home is easy to romanticize. A lake house where the grandkids learn to swim. A beach condo that turns Thanksgiving into a real tradition. A ski cabin where “we should get together sometime” becomes an annual week you actually protect on the calendar.

If you’re a Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium client, you may have heard the update: Schwab is discontinuing Intelligent Portfolios Premium in the first quarter of 2026. The service is already closed to new enrollments.

That naturally leads to one question: What should you do next?

Traditional budgeting sounds great—until you try to live with it. One partner wants spreadsheets, the other wants simplicity, and nobody enjoys friction over every purchase. The Cash Freedom Model lowers the temperature while raising clarity: you always know what you can spend and still stay on track with saving and investing. It also steadies the ride for irregular income so month-to-month swings don’t run your life.

Is this the year to improve your financial plan? Sooner is better than later when it comes to a plan that achieves what you want. Whether you are a professional, business owner, or both, you don’t have to fix everything at once. Instead, look at this planning checklist and pick one thing to work on this year to improve your financial life. One clear win may be better than many unfinished projects.

Looking to give smarter in 2025? Learn how new tax rules—including senior deductions, contribution thresholds, donor-advised fund strategies, and QCDs—can help you maximize your charitable impact while minimizing taxes.