Left Hand Writes Blog
"Left Hand Writes" is here! Join me on this exciting journey as I blend financial expertise with humor and insight. With over 20 years of experience as a financial advisor, I'm ready to demystify complex topics and make finance enjoyable for you. Expect entertaining and educational content delivered bi-weekly, straight from my lab of pen and pad. Your participation is key, so comment, share, troll, and send me your questions. Let's embark on this adventure together, redefining the way we think about finance, one blog post at a time!
How do I Summer?
July 19th, 2024 [3 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
Summer brings the excitement of warm, sunny skies, no school for the kids, pool time, BBQs, and vacation for the family.
Just having returned from our annual trek across the pond to visit my wife’s family in Europe and some bonus sightseeing in Paris pre-Olympics, my ‘handy’ (German for ‘cell phone’) is full of memories to look back on years from now. No matter the cost of time and money, it makes my heart full knowing we’re investing it back into our families and celebrating the human connection in-person, rather than over video. It means so much more.
What's in Your Backpack?
July 5th, 2024 [3 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
As I was packing for my family vacation, I had my luggage out and my backpack side-by-side. Pondering for a moment, these questions came to me to ask of you:
Do you plan out your vacations? Of course! You need to get plane tickets, rental cars, event tickets, and definitely a hotel or Airbnb.
Do you get up early to make your flight? 5am flight to Florida, no problem! Monday to Friday 5am wake-up for fitness, I’ll pass…
Patience is your Superpower.
June 17th, 2024 [4 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
Welcome to the summer grilling season.
Men everywhere wait for this moment all year to sit back, sip a cold one, and do our part cooking at least once a week.
I’m a reformed gas griller that went all-in on a smoker two Father’s Days ago. Why?
My Dad recommended it, and my little brother seconded it, but with the caveat the learning curve will make you curse the first few times. Ok, what the heck…
Tend your Garden.
May 31st, 2024 [4 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
Back in 2020, extraordinary things happened.
People being stuck at home looked around and asked themselves, ‘what now?’ Their zoom attire resembled mullets (business on top, party on the bottom), they created neighborhood ‘bubbles’ for their children to play in and driveway happy hours, and finished all their honey to-do lists. We had all the time in the world to decide ‘what now?’ and how you spent it said a lot about you.
You Only Need Four Hobbies.
May 17th, 2024 [5 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
You only need four hobbies.
For you recent grads out there: LIFE is a great balancing act.
Dr. Seuss’s ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go’ sums it up perfectly. Forget the money kids- you can always make more of that. Time is the number most valuable asset, followed by experience. Pondering this, I read one of those Insta-articles that lists ‘regrets on someone’s death bed.’
Financial Advisors aren’t in the Emergency Business.
May 5th, 2024 [5 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
At Boyer Financial Group, our slogan is: ‘We Serve Everyday Heroes’. That means first responders - the people you don’t want to meet while they’re on duty, but are glad they’re ready to respond and make your bad day have a better outcome. Just like any insurance: hate to pay it, but glad when you have it.
Hip Hop x Finance
April 12th, 2024 [3 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
I grew up during the golden age of hip-hop.
Before it became commercialized, face tattoos, and turned rap entrepreneurs into billionaires.
Hip-hop has been the soundtrack throughout my life- especially from my teens to early adulthood. My generation witnessed its evolution from the 80’s gold chains, breakdancing, and boomboxes, to the early 90’s hardcore rap wars, and the over-the-top rap videos and lifestyles of late the 90’s.
Just like rappers, I’ve made my fair share of bad money mistakes.
Saving Through Taxation
March 22nd, 2024 [4 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
At first glance, you might be thinking of social security where private employees are required to pay into it through employment taxes. Public employees have a similar tax in the form of pensions from their salaries. If you’re working, you’re paying into one or the other.
But this isn’t a required federal tax or state pension- this is a self-tax.
What’s Your Adult GPA?
March 8th, 2024 [3 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
If you’re winning at
this game called adulthood, you’re probably working on your taxes right now… and hoping for a big refund. If you’ve done this a few times before, you may even know they’re due: April 15th (a helpful reminder). This is something you must do every year, but hey, at least it’s only once.
There’s another task you should be working on every month to win at adulthood: Your Adult GPA.
Travel Is the Best Investment.
February 16th, 2024 [4 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
It’s February. The only thing different this year is we get an extra day. Great- one more day for the winter blah.
I don’t know about you, but the past few weekends have been spent dreaming about summer vacation to escape this and look forward to trips away, if even a picnic down the street in the green grass, birds chirping, and the leaves swaying in the breeze. With each day though, you can see the sunrise a bit earlier and the sunset a bit later. Spring is coming- hang in there y’all!
What was your Childhood Net Worth?
January 24th, 2024 [3 min. read]
By Drew W. Boyer, CFP®
Baseball cards, comic books, and cassettes.
Every holiday we get our family together, my mom says, "she always knew I'd end up doing something with money." So true. I can vividly remember back in my childhood when my net worth was sports cards, comic books, and my music collection. I felt richer every time I was able to save up, or trade, and add more to my collection. To this day, I still have them all stored in my college-era black chest box along with all my other adolescent memories for my kids to look through. But alas, too many cards and comics were made and now their value is maybe what was printed on the cover or card pack. Perhaps they can make a comeback someday, but cassette tapes?
Fuhgeddaboudit.