Author: Rick Brooks

Rick Brooks, CFA®, CFP® is a partner of Blankinship & Foster LLC and is the firm’s Chief Investment Officer. He is a lead advisor, counseling clients on all aspects of personal financial management. Rick serves on several boards. He is the Chairman of the Board of Girl Scouts San Diego, and also chairs the San Diego Foundation’s Professional Advisor Council. Rick and his family live in Mission Hills. Rick enjoys spending time with his family, theater, cooking, skiing, gaming and reading.

The failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank all in the same week rattled investors and financial markets alike. The bank runs and subsequent failures brought back stark reminders of the 2008 financial crisis. Many have beenREAD MORE

Variable annuities are sometimes touted as good investments, but how good are they really? A deep dive into the murky depths of an annuity contract reveals the good, the bad, and the ugly math behind these complex and often misunderstoodREAD MORE

In our recent article, Retirement Planning Update: SECURE Act 2.0, we discussed some of the key features of the Act as they pertain to retirement planning. Here are some additional noteworthy features of SECURE Act 2.0. Reduced Penalties for missingREAD MORE

A lot of people use mobile payment services like Venmo or PayPal these days. It’s a convenient way to handle payment transfers, and most use it to transfer money between families and friends. However, many self-employed people also use itREAD MORE

If you are enrolled in Medicare, you can make changes to your insurance coverage once a year, during the Open Enrollment period. This period starts on October 15th and runs through December 7th each year. It applies whether you haveREAD MORE