Erica Mellone, CFP

09/05/2024

With September 1st behind us, as kids have gone off to college and their first apartments, are you now looking at extra space and empty rooms? I'm excited to be joining Ashley Harwood this Monday to discuss Rightsizing for Your Next Chapter.
You can RSVP to me by email, and find more details at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/rightsizing-for-your-next-chapter-an-informative-session-and-qa-tickets-948234985367?

06/12/2024

📚 Attention students and families 📚 Don't forget that FAFSA submissions for the 2024–25 award year close June 30, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CT.

01/02/2024

🥂 wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and financially savvy 2024 🥂

08/16/2023

Have you thought about how you want to be living when you’re 105? Does anyone know your wishes?

🐶 Luca, who has made appearances in many of my social updates and video meetings, is now 105 in human years, which is way past his life expectancy. Up until a year ago, I was often asked how he could be so spry at his age, and my half joking response was always “long walks, spending money on quality food, and having a comfortable couch to sneak up on”.

Today’s is not about saving for retirement.

🥦Modern medicine (and eating your veggies) could keep us around into our 100s too.

➡️ Early in my career I spent a lot of time discussing insurance with my clients and would hear a client's preferences or final wishes. But those wishes were often not in writing, and therefore most would not be carried out.

✅ A few years ago I started padding my emergency fund for the vet bills I knew were coming. While Luca’s blood work is “amazing for a dog his age”, his arthritis is on par with an active dog and has caught up with him after his years of partying hard.

🐾 Animals don’t always communicate when there is pain, and will try to push through it. They rely on their people to speak for them, and I’ll doubt my decisions instead of his veterinarian. If you’ve ever had a pet, you might relate to the monitoring and decision making phase I’m in.

📜 Humans have the ability to communicate our wishes, but many do not. We can appoint someone to speak for us, and instruct medical professionals how long and if we want extraordinary measures to be in effect. 🎁 We can direct how our toys will be distributed.

➡️ Without proper planning, your spouse or loved ones will have a more difficult experience carrying out your wishes, than you would for a pet. It’s not fun to think about, however once you created the proper documents with a trusted attorney, you won’t need to think about it again. And those you appoint to make decisions for you if necessary, will have clear guidance on what you want, and hopefully be at peace as they carry out your wishes.

➡️ August is I can’t create these documents for you, but I can offer attorney connections and help you plan for your savings to last for a long retirement. Luca is available by request to join video calls - just mention him in the memo when you book a discovery call 😉 https://go.oncehub.com/EricaMellone

04/19/2023

How Preparing for a Marathon is like Preparing for Retirement:

On Monday I completed my 4th . The first half of my journey to Boston was perfect and the second half was all mental. I let my mind wander and came to some conclusions. Without further ado, how to prepare:

✅Expect the Unexpected
Marathon: The first fuel station ran out before I got there. But I had a snack bag waiting for me at mile 13 (thank you Paulina).
Retirement: Something won’t go as planned. An expense. Your health. Another grandkid!

✅ Take Advice from Professionals
Marathon: “eat nothing new on race day” says every coach. That’s why I ran past the woman dressed like a pickle offering pickles.
Retirement: The influencers miss exceptions or important details.

✅ Women are the caregivers
Marathon: A friend was in Framingham with the exact favorites of her runners. And she had tissues! This is the actual “you didn’t know you needed it until I offered it” unlike those pickles.
Retirement: If there’s a woman in your life, she’ll be taking care of you. Plan for her to be taken care of if she outlives you.

✅ Friendships are the most important asset
Marathon: Friends take better photos than the photographers on course. They cheer you on like you’re about to win. My firm's former intern is actually one of my largest donors this year.
Retirement: Sitting at home ages you. Get out and do something. See people.

✅People lie
Marathon: The guy in Newton who yelled “you still look pretty”, um no. But I do believe the gals in Brookline who said I had a “sexy pace”.
Retirement: Professionals can have a conflict of interest. So work with a fiduciary, someone with a CFP designation, and/or someone who has all of their social media posts reviewed.

✅Charity Runners are more important than Kenyans
Marathon: Instead of prize money, we’re running for someone you know. We’re running for cures, treatments, and the first survivors.
Retirement: Charitable donations may support your tax and estate planning needs.

✅Boston is Strong, so don’t run out of medals
Marathon: If anyone should know that we’re , it’s the BAA. They underestimated how many of us that would finish, and ran out of medals.
Retirement: Understand your spending needs so you don’t run out of coins

✅Savor the moments, the finish line is the end
Marathon: After 26.2 miles of the most entertaining and committed crowds cheering you on, it’s over in a little flash of upside down letters.
Retirement: Plan the travel. Do the things. Hug the people. I was reminded yesterday that we lose people too soon, people who should have miles to go. After you cross your last finish line we may think we see you in the crowds, but we won’t hear your cheers again as we summit hills and round corners.

If you’d like to hear more about the pickle lady or the other epiphanies I had on Heartbreak Hill, please help me sprint towards my fundraising finish line https://www.givengain.com/ap/erica-mellone-raising-funds-for-alzheimers-association-ma-nh-chapter

03/07/2023

Did you know that you're 65% more likely to achieve your goals when you share them? And 90% more likely to reach them when you share them with someone you meet regularly with?

I have 2 personal goals for the first half of 2023:

•Set a PR in my 4th Boston Marathon
•Raise $10,000 for the Alzheimer’s Association

You can read my why and help me with that second goal: https://www.givengain.com/ap/erica-mellone-raising-funds-for-alzheimers-association-ma-nh-chapter/

Contrary to what you may think, running isn’t a solo sport. Getting up early on freezing Saturday mornings to complete long training runs isn’t easy. If I wasn’t meeting my team, I’d probably stay in bed.

Within my “accountability group” I have “accountability partners”. They actually run for different charities, but run at a similar pace as me. It’s not my goal that motivates me to show up, but theirs. Knowing that 2 of the gals have never run a marathon and somehow see me as the motivator to keep pushing on those final miles, I can't miss a training run.

The stats posted above? It was so cold the running app couldn’t keep up, and there was actual snow coming out of my jacket sleeves. But the volunteers showed up to serve sports drink slush, and the high fives went all morning. Milestone rewards help too - as we finished the Newton hills, eyes were on the prize, hot chocolate waiting for us in Boston.



Goal setting and accountability applies to how I work with my clients too. If you think you’d benefit from having a cheerleader that keeps tabs on your progress, let’s chat!

01/03/2023

New Year, New Goals?

Whether you’re building off of your achievements in 2022, or reviewing where you stand and where you want to get to, the start of the year is when we often set new goals for ourselves.

Truth is, I don’t love “new years resolutions”. If you want to improve something, don’t wait until January 1st to make a change. Just take the first step, as small as it might be.

Goals are something we can work towards over a long term, and are a lot more manageable. You won’t have an emergency fund (or lose 20 lbs, or get a new job) overnight, however when broken up into smaller pieces (like a portion each month) goals that seem big are achievable.

Some ideas for financial goals:
Set aside $ for emergencies
Reduce Debt
Take advantage of employer retirement plan benefits

What is your goal for 2023?

12/14/2022

Even if you’ve managed to recreate Fort Knox with your home cyber security system, you’ll eventually have to leave home. Traveling brings with it a whole new ballgame of cyber security risks you’ll want to prepare for. Here's how.
https://it.nc.gov/resources/cybersecurity-risk-management/cybersecurenc/tips/travel

12/07/2022

As the digital world continues to grow, so does the number of cyber criminals lurking in the corners of the Internet. While you can’t get rid of them, you can make it harder for them to get to you. Safeguard yourself with these steps.

Follow these easy tips to protect the security of your devices, your data, your internet traffic, and your identity.

11/30/2022

If someone asked if you’d like to double-up the cyber security for your online accounts you’d say yes, right? That’s what two-factor authentication does! If you know you should enable it but aren’t quite sure how this will get you all caught up.

2FA is an important step in preventing your account from being accessed by unauthorized users.

11/23/2022

Whether you’ve heard about passphrases or you’re hearing the term for the first time, time to make the switch! Passphrases officially have more strength and are easier to remember than passwords. Here's how to create them!
https://www.okta.com/identity-101/password-vs-passphrase

11/18/2022

Thank you to the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences for having me as a speaker to your Alumni on Wednesday evening. It's always a delight for to be able to provide education on timely topics.