Resources

Here are some links to various products and services that you might find useful.

Investing 

I use Morningstar extensively for investment research and portfolio analysis in my practice.  While I have subscribed to several of their services geared to financial advisors over the years, I have maintained my premium subscription to morningstar.com.  Check out morningstar.com to analyze your investments and to get a free trial for their wide array of premium services.

The Retirement Gamble Documentary 

If you haven’t seen this documentary on the PBS show Frontline, watch it here.

Banking 

As anyone who has searched for an interest bearing bank account of any kind knows, interest rates are at historically low levels.  Ally Bank offers competitive rates on money market accounts, savings accounts, CDs, and other products.  Based upon my experience in working with them on a client’s behalf I was impressed with their customer service.

College Savings 

As the parent of a college graduate and two current college students I can tell you first-hand about the costs of higher education.  Check out upromise a program that turns your spending on everyday items into cash for college.

Financial Advice 

If you enjoy the articles here at The Chicago Financial Planner and would like to learn more about the fee-only financial advice that I provide please contact me.  I work not only with individual investors, but I also provide investment advice to 401(k) plan sponsors as well as to organizations sponsoring foundation and endowment portfolios.  All advice is provided on a fee-only basis with no product sales and the inherent conflicts of interest present in that sort of arrangement.

I am a proud member of NAPFA the largest professional organization of fee-only financial advisors in the country.  Check out NAPFA’s Pursuit of a Financial Advisor guide to finding an advisor who’s right for your situation.  Also check out the Find an Advisor function on the NAPFA site to find a fee-only advisor in your area.

The Garrett Planning Network is another group of fee-only advisors who provide hourly, as needed advice.  Many Garrett members are also members of NAPFA.

If an online service is more to your liking check out Personal Capital.  They offer a variety of free services including expense tracking and financial planning capabilities.  They offer paid investment management services based on a percentage of investment assets under management.  

Blogging and websites 

Since moving The Chicago Financial Planner to Word Press, I’ve used Bluehost to host the site.  I have been very pleased with their service and support and would recommend them to any site owner looking for a new hosting service.

If you are in the market for a new look for your site check out Genesis with its many themes.  The conversion was seamless and the support was outstanding.  Their pricing is quite reasonable as well.

Note that some of the links above are affiliate links and I would be compensated should you make a purchase or join their program.  Please make sure that these or any financial products or services are right for you prior to spending your money.  Other than services offered directly by me, I assume no liability or responsibility for your satisfaction with any product or service cited on this page or anywhere within this blog site. 

Photo credit:  Wikipedia