Personal finance for people who want to be great with money — written by the friend who already is.
Fee-only CFP who thinks in decades, not quarters. Believes a good plan is boring on purpose.
About David
David spent fifteen years watching clients chase the market and lose. Now he writes the long-arc playbook: allocation, rebalancing, sequence-of-returns risk, and the handful of decisions that shape the next thirty years.
On the Retirement and Family Finance Desks, he'll write about the tradeoffs planners actually argue about behind closed doors — not the ones the personal finance internet fights over.
In their own words
“Risk tolerance is a lie you tell yourself in a bull market.”
— David Chen, The Financial Planner
The money story
David started at a wirehouse in 2008 and watched a generation of clients panic-sell at the bottom. He walked to fee-only two years later and hasn't taken a commission since. His conviction: the plan is the product. Everything else is noise.
Signature playbook
Every ten years, one written plan that answers four questions. Revisited yearly. Rewritten only when life changes, not when markets do.
What Is This Money For?
Every dollar gets a job — retirement, college, house, gift, spending. No orphan assets.
What's the Allocation?
One target mix per goal, based on timeline, not gut. Written down. Rebalanced yearly.
What's the Withdrawal or Contribution Rule?
A pre-agreed rule for adding or drawing, so decisions don't get made in a downturn.
What Would Make Us Change?
The two or three life events — not market events — that would trigger a rewrite.
A taste of the beat
Sample headlines from David's desk.
Rules I won't break
The non-negotiables — the things David refuses to recommend, no matter how good the pitch.
The weekly dispatch
The kind of financial advice you'd get from a friend who's already figured it out. No hot takes, no leaderboards, no affiliate hustle.