You have worked incredibly hard to build your life. You are balancing a demanding career, raising children, and trying to find a few minutes of free time on the weekends. Recently, your hard work has paid off with significant promotions and a higher salary. On paper, you look incredibly successful.

You have reached a significant milestone in your life. Perhaps your house is paid off, your debts are cleared, and you have diligently built a solid nest egg over decades of hard work. You have done everything right, and you should feel completely at peace.

If you ask the average high-earner how they invest their 401(k) or brokerage account, the answer is almost always the same: "I just buy the S&P 500 index fund. It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s diversified."

It is certainly cheap. It is definitely easy. But is it actually diversified?

For many of the families we work with, such as professionals living in cities and working in tech, media, or corporate management, relying solely on the S&P 500 might mean taking on significantly more risk than they realize.

Retirement used to be a binary switch. One day you were working; the next day you weren't. You got a gold watch, a pension, and you went fishing.

But for the clients I work with today, that light switch concept rarely applies. I work with many retirees like Nora. Nora is financially responsible. Her home is paid off, she has no debt, and she has built a solid nest egg. But Nora has a problem that isn't about numbers—it's about peace of mind.

Nobody likes logging into their brokerage account and seeing red. When the market dips, whether it’s a broad correction or a specific sector pulling back, the natural instinct is to look away and wait for it to recover.

But for high-earning professionals, ignoring those losses is a missed opportunity. In the tax world, those red numbers can actually be an asset.

We talk a lot about the Sandwich Generation "squeeze" affecting young families, but there is another squeeze that hits later in life, and it can be financially suffocating. It’s the position of the "Sandwich Generation"—people who are simultaneously supporting their growing children and their aging parents.

One of the most common questions we hear from our clients -especially those living in cities, raising families, and paying attention to the world around them - is this:

“I’ve worked hard for this money. Do I have to check my conscience at the door to grow it?”

There has long been a prevailing myth in the financial world that you have to choose between your values and your returns.

We live in an era of magical banking. You go to work, you do your job, and every two weeks, money simply appears in your bank account. You get a notification on your phone: Direct Deposit Received. You feel a momentary sense of relief, swipe the notification away, and move on with your day.

The convenience of direct deposit is undeniable. But it has a side effect: it has made us blind to the details of our own compensation.

There is a moment every creative professional faces. It happens when you land that big contract, sell that pilot, or book a major tour. You look at the check and think, "I made it."

Then, about six months later, you look at your bank account, or worse, a letter from the IRS, and think, "Wait, where did it all go?"

You log into your banking app and look at the summary screen. If you add up the 401(k) balances, the home equity, and the investment accounts, the number at the bottom is impressive. Maybe it's even a milestone number - something you once thought would make you feel completely secure.

And yet, when you look at your checking account balance at the end of the month, or when a large credit card bill hits, that feeling of security evaporates.

You are "rich on paper," but you feel squeezed in reality.

You don't have to avoid marriage to save money, but you do need to go into it with your eyes wide open.

If you are considering a major life change—whether it’s marriage, downsizing, or helping a family member—let’s run the numbers first. We can help you structure your finances so that you protect the security you’ve worked so hard to build.

Rebuilding after a gray divorce involves grief, but it also offers a chance to take full control of your narrative. We help clients run the new numbers, adjust the plan, and answer that big question—“Will I be okay?”—with a confident “Yes.”

If you ask most people why they haven't updated their estate plan—or why they don't have one at all—the answer is often: “I’m not rich enough to worry about that yet.”

There is a common misconception that estate planning is exclusively for the ultra-wealthy, a strategy reserved for people trying to hide millions from the government. But at Propel, we view it differently. We know that estate planning isn’t just about tax avoidance; it is about love. It is about making sure that in your family’s hardest moments, they aren’t fighting with a bank, a court system, or each other.

We know this because we have lived it.

The new priorities of the federal administration have long-reaching ramifications for taxpayers and federal aid recipients. The new One Big Beautiful Act (OBBBA) that was signed into law on July 4, 2025, includes significant changes for most Americans. In this blog post, I’m going to cover some of the basic tax cuts of the OBBBA, the QCD tax benefit available to retirees, and how these tax cuts and others will give private citizens more control over their community support dollars. Keep in mind that these tax rules apply to federal tax only. You should always consult your tax preparer to determine the impact, if any, on your state taxes.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a buzzword in today's tech-driven world. From tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon to emerging leaders like NVIDIA and Meta, AI is shaping industries and revolutionizing the way we live and work. In this blog post, we'll explore what AI is, its historical development, and the current market trends driving its growth. We'll also examine the emotional and financial responses to these trends and provide practical advice on how to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index is known as the S&P 500. It consists of the largest 500 companies in the United States. Within the Index those companies are market-weighted, meaning the size of the company determines the size of its position in that index. They do not each represent an equal 1/500th piece of the pie.