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.

I’ve worked with several couples with very different birthdates. This isn’t good or bad – as they say, the heart wants what it wants. Still, the financial planning considerations are a little different than for people who marry someone closerREAD MORE

I meet with a lot of people who are looking for financial advice. Their needs and financial knowledge vary greatly. And yet, it amazes me how rarely I am ever asked five simple, straightforward and utterly critical questions, which willREAD MORE

In 2014, the S&P 500 Index of the stocks of the 500 largest U.S. companies rose 14%. Outside the U.S. it was a different story: the MSCI Europe, Australasia, and Far East (EAFE®) Index of foreign stocks fell almost 5%READ MORE

I hope you’ve enjoyed the holidays. As we ring in the New Year and start our client review cycle, one of the things that we do for our clients is to review the beneficiary designations of their retirement accounts (pensions,READ MORE

IRA & QRP Retirement Account Distribution Rules — With the year-end approaching, an important deadline for retirement account owners is also coming: Required Minimum Distributions. This article will deal with some of the distribution rules surrounding IRAs and Qualified RetirementREAD MORE