- Mercer Advisors, Formerly Epstein & White

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of Your Mindset Toward Your Finances

The concept of retirement planning is simple. Despite changes in the economy or in life itself, the concept of planning your retirement has remained unchanged. We work, save, retire, and repeat for generations over. But while the concept may be the same, the puzzle has begun to evolve. In other words, individuals and families currently saving for retirement are facing challenges that were previously never considered. Without pensions and hefty Social Security checks, it is now [...]

Rebecca Mack2023-02-23T20:55:52+00:00February 23, 2023|Financial Planning, Psychology|

Don’t Succumb to the Fear of Missing Out

If you’ve followed markets or financial news, especially in the past few years, you may have come across the term “fear of missing out,” commonly abbreviated to FOMO. When markets keep going up, FOMO can start to creep in. It can start to feel like you’re leaving gains on the table by not rebalancing your portfolio to include the ultra-high growth assets that saw big jumps. The desire to get as much as you can from [...]

Rebecca Mack2022-08-05T16:29:52+00:00August 5, 2022|Financial Planning, Psychology, Stock Market|

Handle Life’s Busy Seasons Like An Accountant During Tax Season

Generally, accountants have a good work-life balance, but they’re notoriously busy during tax season. From January to April, their workload increases significantly, and they must come up with new techniques to manage their time. Sometimes when we’re used to a routine, extra work or activity can throw us off because we don't know how to adapt. The same can also happen when we go from working full weeks to having free time in retirement. In retirement, [...]

lonebeacon2021-03-26T20:05:28+00:00March 26, 2021|Lifestyle, Psychology|

Age Does Come Before Beauty

Despite the fact that America has an aging population, there is ample evidence of ageism happening around us. The way we perceive older adults can limit our roles in society as we age and a pervasive negative view of aging can have a psychological impact on us. Sometimes ageism can be seen in a seemingly benign birthday card depicting age as something to laugh at or feel bad about, but other times it takes the form [...]

lonebeacon2021-03-20T01:23:43+00:00March 20, 2021|Lifestyle, Psychology|

Wise Words About Aging

Our culture is very youth-focused, but we all instinctively feel reverence for people who have experienced much and gained wisdom from their long years. A positive attitude towards aging can go a long way towards finding happiness in retirement by giving us something to look forward to. Here are some wise words about aging. "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you were?" -Satchel Paige Satchel Paige played professional baseball in the [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-09-12T01:26:00+00:00September 12, 2020|Psychology|

Motivate, Don’t Procrastinate

They say there are people who watch things happen, people who make things happen, and people who say, “what happened?” You certainly don’t want to be the last kind, and it's not so great to be the first kind, either. But distractions can get in the way, and the best of us procrastinate. COVID-19 may have canceled some of your plans, but it doesn’t mean you should forget about your long-term goals. If you want to [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-09-04T20:24:52+00:00September 4, 2020|Lifestyle, Psychology|

Can Nostalgia Overcome Aging?

You might think that the more recent an event, the easier it would be to remember it. And you might think that things that happened to you a long time ago would be harder to recall, but the human brain and memory are actually more complex. There is what psychologists call a “reminiscence bump,” which is the tendency for older adults to more easily recall events from their adolescence and early adulthood. And it turns out, [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-08-21T19:35:15+00:00August 21, 2020|Psychology|

Age Before Beauty

Despite the fact that America has an aging population, there is ample evidence of ageism happening around us. The way we perceive older adults can limit our roles in society as we age, and a pervasive negative view of aging can have a psychological impact on us. Sometimes ageism can be seen in a seemingly benign birthday card depicting age as something to laugh at or feel bad about, but other times it takes the form [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-08-14T22:10:54+00:00August 14, 2020|Lifestyle, Psychology|

3 Easy Ways to Develop New Habits

We’ve all heard the saying “old dogs can’t learn new tricks,” but is it true? Maybe it is for dogs, but not for people. You can always learn new habits, no matter what age you are. It starts with understanding how the brain works and building on success. You can go from seeing an action as alien to second nature more easily than you think. Here are three easy ways to develop new habits. Repeat Actions [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-03-06T18:23:15+00:00March 6, 2020|Lifestyle, Psychology|

3 Reasons to Thank Your Aging Brain

Don’t hate your aging brain just because it takes it a bit longer to figure out the crossword or remember a name. According to a Harvard Medical School report, this slower thinking actually shows that the brain is working better. Many people reference the fact that teenagers have poor decision-making skills due to their not yet fully developed pre-frontal cortex. But the brain doesn’t stop changing as soon as you hit adulthood – studies have shown [...]

Rebecca Mack2020-02-07T18:44:37+00:00February 7, 2020|Psychology|