A plan without a vision is a series of disconnected decisions.

Each decision can be individually sound. The portfolio can be well built, the taxes well managed, the documents in order. And the whole can still feel hollow, because nothing ties the decisions to each other or to the family they are supposed to serve. We meet households like this regularly. Nothing is wrong, exactly. Nothing is pointed anywhere, either.

Today is the third quarter estimated tax deadline. If your payment is in, this post is not really about that.

It is about what the deadline means. September 15 is the calendar tapping you on the shoulder: the year has three and a half months left, and most of the moves that matter at year end need runway.

In most cities, concentrated stock is something that happens to founders. In Houston, it happens to employees.

Labor Day is an apt time to honor unseen work. Financial planners can relate.

Back to school season tends to put tuition front of mind, which makes it a natural moment to check the account itself. But the more useful conversation is usually the one that doesn't show up on a statement.

Once you turn 50, the IRS lets you contribute more to your 401k or IRA each year than the standard limit allows. It's not a loophole or a strategy that requires special timing. It's just an option that sits there, unused, because nothing about it is automatic.

Before you decide how much of yours to use this year, three questions are worth asking.

A mid-year planning map for Houston energy professionals

The financial side is the part that people forget and forgetting it can turn a hard week into a hard year if the worst happens. It’s not that people are careless, it’s because the financial pieces are invisible until you need them, and by the time you need them, the window to get organized has closed.

Peak Atlantic hurricane season runs from August to the end of September. Late July is usually a quiet window to tackle the financial side before it becomes a scramble.

Summer is half over. Review these numbers to help keep your summer budget on track.

What is the purpose of your money? And why is it so hard to articulate? If it were easy, everyone would have done it. The reason it is hard is that money is not concrete. It is a stand-in for things that are. Security. Freedom. Time with the people you love. Generosity. When we try to talk about money directly, we are really trying to talk about those things, and most of us are out of practice. Read on to find out how to have better conversation about your money, your values, and your life.