Harding Wealth

07/19/2026

Just wrapped a call with a client.

76.
Female.
Widowed.
No heirs.
Net worth about $5m ($3m liquid, $2m real estate)

The reason for the call:

Yesterday I learned that she’s getting married to a fellow widower this afternoon after knowing him for just three months.

My first comment was “Congratulations, tell me how you met.”

After hearing their story — and after having worked with hundreds of older retirees in a similar situation, here’s what I said to her:

“I’m so happy you found someone. You don’t have to legally get married to honor that connection, but I understand if that’s important to you.

Also, it’s my job to address the possibility that some things may happen, however unlikely they may be.

So, do me this favor:

1) Do not commingle a meaningful amount of your assets for at least a year.

2) I can see the titling of all of your sizable assets with the exception of your house. Do not make any changes to the title on your real estate unless we talk (we manage the accounts).

3) Let’s sit for a meeting with your new husband as soon as you can. I’d love to get everyone on the same page. “

Then I offered to be the witness at today’s courthouse ceremony if they needed one.
..This stuff is complicated.

On one hand, three months is a very short time before getting married.

On the other hand, loneliness is real. She has no heirs. The man she’s marrying is 79—not 55—and how do you put a price on companionship later in life?

This isn’t the decision I would make personally, but my job isn’t to live clients’ lives. My job is to be a sounding board, to help them understand the biggest risks, protect where I can, and then support them as they live the life they’ve chosen

01/23/2026

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves...

Allow me to reintroduce ourselves.

09/05/2025

A potential client recently asked me about a premium-financed IUL policy they were considering. Of course, the salesperson was glossing over the major risks and using funny math to portray the potential benefits... So let me unpack the 'myth vs. reality' on these kinds of offerings:

Myth 1: “The policy pays for itself.”

Reality: The strategy depends on borrowing money. Loan costs fluctuate with interest rates, and the insurer can adjust caps and charges. If the assumptions don’t hold, you’ll have to post collateral or pay out of pocket.

Myth 2: “You’ll get tax-free retirement income forever.”

Reality: Tax-free loans from the policy only work if the contract stays in force for life. If it lapses or underperforms, the IRS treats the outstanding loan as taxable income. This “phantom income” event can trigger a huge tax bill when you’re least prepared.

Myth 3: “It’s low-risk because of the index crediting.”

Reality: Index crediting isn’t guaranteed. Carriers set caps (the maximum return credited) and participation rates (the percentage of the index gain you receive). They can reduce these at any time, which cuts long-term performance dramatically.

Myth 4: “This is a proven wealth strategy for the ultra-affluent.”

Reality: Yes, some wealthy families use premium financing — but usually with liquidity to spare, and as part of a highly managed estate plan. For most investors, it’s not “proven,” it’s speculative. The wrong sequence of rates and returns can collapse the whole plan.

Myth 5: “It beats investing directly.”

Reality: If you can already invest in markets directly, paying layers of insurance costs plus loan interest is usually less efficient. Premium financing only “works” on paper if illustrated returns stay high and borrowing costs stay low — both very uncertain.

Myth 6: “The insurance agent wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t safe.”

Reality: Premium-financed IUL pays some of the highest commissions in the industry. Sales incentives can cloud judgment. Always ask who benefits more: you, or the person selling it.
..I don't believe an actual policy has ever outperformed the illustration used to sell that policy. Remember that and beware.

09/03/2025

A ten year financial plan isnt valuable; too many assumptions are needed.

A ten year relationship with someone who adapts your plan to your ever-changing life is much better.

08/29/2025

As a firm, Harding Wealth Inc. recently hit a milestone we'd had our eyes on for a couple years.

What matters here isn't the specific milestone -- I won't mention what it is because, frankly, it doesn't matter whether it's a small or medium or big number.

What does matter, however, is that we wouldn't have been able to reach this number without doing impactful work which makes us worthy of retaining. I like what that suggests about what we're building.

At the end of the day, specific goals are just guesses and not much changes after you hit a number. You know this because that one time you breached a six-figure income or a million dollars in your portfolio or something like that, nothing changed after.... You just had to set a new target.

But along the way it's worth taking a peak in the rearview to give credit to how far you've come.

Shoutout to the HW team for bringing us this far.

08/05/2025

This week we sent a 5 year old to his first day at Kindergarten. We revisited some lessons learned along the way. Read more here:

Did you know the word ‘kindergarten’ means ‘Don’t buy meme stocks’ in German?

03/14/2025

Markets are doing what markets do.

Time to keep some perspective.

Gratitude.

07/18/2024

All of the most sophisticated people say things like “Dude. Exactly.” when talking to the Wall Street Journal.

See here:

A viral X post asking whether to give your beneficiaries the money today, or let them wait to inherit it, has drawn more than 10 million views

06/20/2024

(posted by Adam Harding)

If you work at NVIDIA and have stock, I'm begging you to spend some time unpacking a very simple word:

Enough.

Specifically, how much is enough?

I recall a conversation I had back with someone in 2021. The person had about $12m in Netflix stock and a $15m net worth.

As I typically do in early prospect discussions, I asked them what they wanted their life to look like and they said things like "feel financially free", "sleep well at night", "spend more time volunteering" and "buy a cabin and spend more time there with our two boys (ages 3 & 5)".

I said, "cool, you can have all of those things right now, but we need to reconsider your concentrated stock position." They pushed back -- after all, look how far they'd come from that single stock. I get it.

(For the record, my position has nothing to do with the Netflix -- it could have been any stock and I likely would've said the same thing.)

Over the next few months, NFLX dropped 75% before they elected to diversify.

The difference between a $6m and $15m net worth is pretty substantial where they live. Don't get me wrong, $6m is still a lot, but you're definitely not sleeping as well and a cabin isn't too sensible.

As of today, NFLX is almost back to it's pre-crash levels and they can heed that advice or not (they didn't become a client), but one thing is for certain:

Those kids are now 6 and 8 and those three years aren't coming back.

Remember why you're investing and see if you can align your strategy with that.
..And if you need some tactics to wrap your mind around diversifying your NVDA position, here are some mental gymnastics:

Tactic #1: If you have $X worth of stock, ask yourself "If I had $X in cash and not stock, would I feel comfortable placing a buy order today for $X?"... Aside from capital gains taxes, electing to hold a security is akin to buying it. However, folks tend to hold things while having far less conviction than they'd need in order to buy the same things.

Tactic #2: Consider hedging both your fear of loss and your fear of missing out. You do this by taking a meaningful diversifying measure to protect against getting blindsided while still keeping a position which helps you feel like you're part of the move you've participated in up to this point.

Tactic #3: I took two Ubers in LA last week -- both drivers asked me what I thought of NVDA and told me their son/brother/nephew or whatever had suggested they buy too... Ask yourself "are the buyers at these levels the early, sophisticated investors or those who are anchoring their opinions to recent performance?".... Think of the person on the other side of the transaction and then choose who you want to be.

Look, at the end of the day this isn't about future performance of an investment, it's about the future layout of your life and making sure the vision board gets realized.

If you have enough, pat yourself on the back and make some moves to protect it.