Money for Life with Eric Roberge, CFP

Whether you're worried about losing your job, concerned about your investments, or just feeling uncertain about the economy, this episode gives you a clear action plan to turn anxiety into productive financial decisions.

"How do I navigate the current economic uncertainty?" This was the most-requested topic at a recent conference we attended. If you're wondering the same, you're clearly not alone.

Instead of worrying, get a strateg...

Are you constantly running on empty, juggling work, family, and endless household tasks? Then you may need to take advantage of an often-underutilized strategy for high-earning professionals: use your money to buy back your time.

No, you should NOT do everything yourself, and we don't believe outsourcing is some kind of sign of moral failing or judgment on your inability to successfully manage things on your own.

The truth is, usin...

Everyone says "invest for the long term" and "stay the course"—but what does that actually mean? When the market drops 12% within a few weeks, is your 10-year timeline really "long-term enough"? 

In this episode, Eric and Kali cut through the vague advice and give you specific numbers: how many years you actually need, what returns to expect, and why being a long-term investor is one of the hardest things you'll do with your money.

Thinking about buying a car? "Should I buy a car now, or wait?" has been an extremely popular question among our financial planning clients this year. So today, we're discussing the reality of car prices in 2025, how we think prices are likely to evolve (or not) over the coming months, and the planning considerations to take into account if you decide to buy now. 

We're also sharing our own real-world, personal experiences with buy...

6 Guideposts to Increase Your Net Worth

Think investment returns are the key to building wealth? Think again!

In this episode, Eric and Kali share six powerful guideposts that, if followed, can generate the power you need to increase your net worth. No stock picking or secret investment strategies only the rich know required.

Discover why your savings rate matters more than your investment returns, why time in the market beats timi...

Is all risk bad? How can you tell how much risk you should take, or know when you're not taking ENOUGH risk to earn the return you need? What's more important, risk tolerance or risk capacity?

With 2025's market volatility creating concern and worry for investors, we're exploring why no investment worth making is without risk… and why trying to avoid all risk presents a danger to your ability to grow wealth.

Discover the critical d...

Looking for Beyond Finances? You're in the right place! Beyond Finances is now Money For Life, hosted by Eric Roberge, CFP and Kali Roberge. We're back and focused on sharing our philosophy, action plans, and professional expertise on the financial planning strategies that help us, our clients, and now you, to create wealth that lasts a lifetime.

In this episode we discuss why (and how) we focus on building financial planning strat...

How kids change you can be delightfully surprising. But they'll change your financial plan, too, in ways that might be challenging if you don't know how to adjust. 

In what is probably news to no one, things change when you have kids.

You know your responsibilities will shift. Your schedule will probably get upended. The smaller your children are, the less personal freedom you may have.

How you experience all this, however...

You asked - now we answer your specific financial questions and try to provide clarity on some money situations that lots of folks tend to find themselves in.

We share our insights on:

• What to do with your money once you pay off debt, max out your retirement accounts, and aren't sure what to prioritize next
• How to think through a decision like investing in rental real estate properties
• What counts (and what DOESN'T) when talki...

In the last episode of our 3-part series on strategic planning for your finances is all about protecting family wealth. If you're working hard to build assets, you need to protect that growing net worth - and part of that is making sure you and your family will be financially stable no matter what curveballs you may face along the way.

Instead of just running through "insurance 101" or defining parts of an estate plan, we're pullin...

Welcome back to our series on strategic planning for your personal finances. Today's episode is part II, and we're covering all things investment management.

We'll talk through what you need to do to put together a sound investment strategy for yourself, and the to-dos any investment manager should take (whether that's you as a DIYer, or an advisor who you hire to manage your assets for you). 

This episode covers:

• Assessing ri...

You've heard the term "financial plan" or "financial planning" a million times. But what does it actually look like to go through that process?

Today we're sharing how we construct strategic plans for personal finances. We'll take you to the inner workings of the framework and systems we use at Beyond Your Hammock to help people use their money as a tool to get more of what they want in life - now and into the future.

This is part ...

Do you earn bonuses, commissions, grants of equity comp, or other types of variable income? Then you better know not just how to manage it, but also how to optimize these lump sum cash inflows to help you achieve your goals and grow your wealth.

In this episode, we'll explain how to do it. Join us as we discuss:

• What counts as "variable income," or what lump sums of money you may receive over time
• The number-one thing to do if...

New rules and regulations pushed forward by the SECURE 2.0 Act might impact how your manage your money right now, and into the future. Here's what you need to know.

The SECURE 2.0 Act is a 1.7 trillion dollar spending bill passed by Congress in 2022. This legislation's scope went far beyond "let's adjust how retirement plans work," but the details within the bill did change many rules relating to retirement pl...

Money and marriage is a serious topic, if only because getting it wrong can lead to devastating results: 48% of people report fighting about money; 60% of those fights tend to be about spending. 41% of Gen Xers and 29% of baby boomers surveyed by TD Ameritrade report that money was a direct cause of a divorce, and some research shows that disagremeents about money are a leading predictor of future divorce.

So today, we're not just ...

In this episode, we're sharing our 4-step framework to help you hone in on a savings rate that's right for you.

If you ask 10 different people how much you need to save per year to set yourself up for a secure financial future, you will probably get at least 15 different answers. It's confusing! And even if you go with the most common answer to "how much do I need to save," which may be 10 to 15 percent of your gross income each ye...

It's your money, and you need it now! In this episode, we discuss the best short-term investments when you want to earn a return from your cash - without exposing it to a risk of loss. We cover:

• How current events may drive people to make bad investment decisions
• Why you have to start the short-term investment convo with an understanding of risk and reward
• What to look for when considering a short-term investment (and what you...

The only constant variable that you can truly rely on is change.

This is what makes financial planning so hard.  An actual plan that you put down on paper is outdated before the ink is even dry, because every single piece of new information will throw your charts and your projections and your linear action steps out of whack. 

Plus, there's no one variable that you can plug in to account for "change." You cannot pin it down or make...

Massive layoffs at Facebook and Amazon. Stumbles at Google and Lyft. A shaky year in the stock market for the tech giants - all capped off by a tremendously spectacular blowup at crypto platform FTX.

The idea that "current success is the biggest indicator of an upcoming failure" seems especially resonate these days amid headline after headline about highly-regarded companies that missed the mark on sustainable growth. So what can t...