I WAS 51 YEARS OLD when I ate prime rib for the first time. As it turned out, it was a life-changing moment. It might be difficult to believe eating a choice cut of beef could lead to an altered understanding of financial priorities, but it did.
I grew up in a fairly typical 1970s middle class family. Hamburger Helper, tuna casserole and peanut butter sandwiches made up the bulk of my diet. Our family rarely ate out and,

MY BIGGEST INITIAL mistake as a financial planner: underestimating the power of emotions. My office is located near top universities such as Harvard, MIT and Boston University. I assumed my well-educated clients, many with strong quantitative backgrounds, were simply looking to me for additional analytical insights.
Instead, my clients proved to be as human as everybody else. One top academic statistician, who claimed to be frugal and cautious, shared with me an annuity policy he purchased from a close friend at his church.

I JUST ATTENDED THE Madrid Open, a major clay court tennis tournament. It’s one of nine Masters series tournaments, ranked just below Grand Slams like Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. It was amazing to witness the players’ speed and agility at such close range.
Because it was early in the tournament, most of the matches I saw were part of the first and second round, with top 10 players pitted against contenders outside of the top 100.

SOME YEARS AGO, I had a health scare—and it taught me an important lesson about my relationship with money. My primary care physician wanted me to see a hematologist. “Your white blood cells have been trending lower for the last five years,” he opined. “We need to find out what’s causing it.”
After a number of tests, the hematologist thought I might have a rare blood disease. He said the test results were inconclusive,

OWNING A BUSINESS comes with a unique opportunity: the chance to better the lives of your employees. The paycheck you provide helps them pay for their daily expenses and supports the local economy. But there’s an opportunity to do even more: By being thoughtful in how you structure employee benefits, you can ensure they have a more prosperous future, while also helping them lead happier lives today.
Remember, money is simply a tool to help you enjoy your life—and one way to do that is to buy time.

MANY OF US SUFFER from so-called loss aversion: We get more pain from losses than pleasure from gains. In other words, we’d rather not lose $5 than find $5 we never had.
Loss aversion has been extensively studied in financial decision-making. But it also applies to sports—especially golf. For instance, tournament coordinators might change a hole from a short par 5 to a long par 4. Par measures the number of strokes a golfer is expected to take to complete the hole—and,

THREE YEARS AGO, I decided to write a book about money for my children, then ages 9 and 11. Raising Your Child’s Financial IQ: The Most Important Things is now finished. Here are six things I learned along the way—which apply not just to writing a book, but also to life more generally:
1. Yes, you can find the time
I’m a physician, working 50 to 60 hours a week.

IF YOU ASK MY WIFE what my favorite food is, she won’t hesitate to answer: It’s avocados. I make a large bowl of guacamole almost every week. Maybe that’s why I take offense when I read articles saying avocado toast is the reason millennials aren’t saving for retirement.
Avocado toast has a bad reputation with personal finance writers, because it’s an expensive and favorite brunch choice, especially among my generation, those born in the 1980s and ’90s.

HOW WE CHOOSE TO spend our time and money is a declaration of what we deem important. A modest example: We might enjoy watching a wide array of cable channels, while caring little about the clothes we wear, and that’s reflected in our costly cable bill and minimal spending on clothing. And there’s nothing wrong with a choice like that—if it is indeed what we want.
But is it? Often, the things we consider important—and hence how we lead our lives and how we spend our money—aren’t the product of our own careful contemplation.

ON APRIL 3, MY HUSBAND Jim and I were among 262 pilgrims who made our way into Santiago de Compostela to receive an official pilgrim’s certificate for completing the required distance along one of the famous El Camino’s several routes—the most popular of which is some 500 miles. We were now certified peregrinos, or pilgrims.
Because it was early in the season, ours was one of the slow days for Camino completion.

ON DEC. 7, 2005, a curious thing happened in a Harvard classroom. Prof. Michael D. Smith stood in front of a group of computer science students to introduce a guest speaker: entrepreneur and former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. What was curious was that the room was nearly empty. The class met in a huge lecture hall, but there were barely a dozen people in the room.
How could that be? Why was there so little interest in Zuckerberg’s presentation?

SIMON SINEK BROKE onto the scene in 2009, asking us to “start with why.” His TED Talk has been viewed millions of times and inspired countless articles. He commands attention and captivates audiences with his message. All good things. For both individuals and organizations, there’s immense value in asking, “What’s my why?”
But what about “who”? In all the enthusiasm over “why,” I don’t think “who” has gotten its due.
When I talk about “who,” I’m talking about your community and your sense of connection to others in that community.

“IS CBS PIPING FAKE birds into its Masters coverage?” That was the headline on a recent Slate article, which speculated that the television network might be adding “enhanced audio” of fake bird chirping to its coverage of the golf tournament.
This is not a scandal for the ages. But it serves as a timely reminder that we have fantasized notions of life that marketers and the media don’t hesitate to exploit.
Make no mistake: The PGA,

SINCE ENTERING THE workforce in late 2010, I’ve been giving advice to others on how to put their money to good use. There are few things I enjoy more than having a conversation with a couple about such a complex subject. Along the way, I’ve pushed myself to learn more about specific financial planning strategies, as well as about human behavior and psychology.
These readings have not only taught me how I can better help my clients,

I WAS SELECTED IN 2015 for the “leadership pipeline program” at the major bank where I worked. It was a 10-month-long program for minority employees just below executive level. We were selected to learn all about corporate culture and what it took to advance to the next level. I felt honored to be among such talented and promising employees.
Participants were from various departments from across the U.S.—technology, risk management, operations, compliance, human resources,