Janus Gate Financial

10/12/2026

For some, the second Monday in October marks Columbus Day, a commemoration of exploration and its role in shaping American history.

For others, it's Indigenous Peoples' Day, a time to honor the cultures, histories, and contributions of Native communities.

Both observances point to something worth sitting with: how differently history can be remembered and how many perspectives make up a single story.

10/10/2026

Impact. That's what happens when committed communities come together, roll up their sleeves, and put in the work to help others.

I was blessed to spend this morning with my family and more than 200 volunteers at Westfield Senior High School, assembling over 40,000 meals through Rise Against Hunger to help combat food insecurity around the world.

Food insecurity is more than a matter of hunger. It affects physical health, emotional well-being, and quality of life. The relationship between food insecurity and mental health can create a vicious cycle: struggling to access nutritious food can worsen mental health challenges, while those same challenges can make achieving food security even more difficult.

Today also happens to be World Mental Health Day, making the connection especially meaningful.

Earlier this morning, I was grateful to join the Cranford Jaycees for their monthly mental health walk. Exercise, nutrition, and meaningful human connections all play important roles in supporting our mental well-being.

Two different community events. Two important causes. One common thread: When we come together to care for others, we strengthen the communities we all share.

Grateful to everyone who gave their time today and to the organizations that make opportunities like these possible.

10/10/2026

⚠️ Money is one of the most consistently cited sources of stress in America.

For caregivers, that weight often increases! 😮

Having a clearer picture of where things stand can help ease some of the uncertainty that makes financial stress feel heaviest in the first place.

There's no clean solution to money stress.

Most of it is caused by the unknown. The uncertainty.

World Mental Health Day recognizes just how deeply finances can impact our well-being (and vice versa).

If financial stress has been sitting in the background of your life this year, a conversation with a professional can go a long way, be it a mental health professional or a financial professional. Pursuing comfort, understanding, and compassion is a team sport.

10/09/2026

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to prioritize health.

Early detection through regular screenings is one of the most effective tools we have in the fight against breast cancer.

Here are a few small things we can do this October:

✅ Schedule your annual screening if you haven't yet

✅ Educate yourself and others on risk factors and preventative lifestyle habits

✅ Support research and organizations dedicated to advancing breast cancer prevention and care

Taking charge of your health today makes all the difference for tomorrow. 🎗️

10/08/2026

Stocks finished the third quarter mixed. The S&P 500 gained 2.03%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.47%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.70%. Halloween is next on the calendar, with U.S. consumers expected to spend \$13.5 billion USD this year and 6.26 million Canadian children in their trick-or-treating years.

Stocks were mixed in the third quarter as economic, geopolitical, and corporate earnings news pushed the broad market higher while weighing on the Dow Industrials.

10/07/2026

There's a reason so many women business owners half-joke that their real title is "everything."

More women than ever are starting and running businesses, and they're doing it at a faster clip than the market overall.

Census data show women now own more than 14 million businesses nationwide, a number that's grown 26 percent since 2012, compared with 19 percent growth for businesses as a whole.

A lot of that growth is happening online, where women-owned businesses tend to be more digitally integrated than those owned by men.

It also means millions of women are managing key decisions from scratch:

💼 How income gets paid (salary, distributions, or owner draws) and what that means at budget time

💼 Which retirement vehicle fits, and how much room there is to contribute

💼 How healthcare, disability, and other insurance get sourced without an employer default

💼 How the business gets valued, and what a sale or transition would actually look like

💼 How personal finances stay untangled from the business's finances

Wearing a tall stack of hats doesn't make entrepreneurship harder than it's worth. Plenty of women running these businesses would say the trade-offs are part of the deal. But it does mean the hats keep stacking up, one on top of the other.

This month is a good time to tip our own hats to the women doing it all at once.

10/06/2026

Grateful to be partnered with LPL Financial and attend the Advanced Solutions for Growth Workshop in Boston.

Busy day discussing concentrated stock strategies, tax planning, mid-term elections and the impact on policy, and the shifting landscape of portfolio construction.

Always great to network with my peers and share ideas on how to better assist the families we serve.

10/05/2026

Cyber criminals pay extra attention to accounts tied to money.

A 2026 FBI study found that over 12,400 of those victims lost more than $100,000 each, and the average reported loss across elder fraud victims that year was $38,500. Here are a few habits to fine-tune your digital security this month:

🔐 Turn on multi-factor authentication everywhere it's offered. Yes, it's annoying, but according to a 2026 CISA report, using it makes an account roughly 99 percent less likely to be broken into. It only takes a minute to set up.

🔐 Give every account its own password. Reusing one password means one leaked login unlocks everything else. A password manager handles this without requiring you to remember dozens of them.

🔐 When you go to the dentist, put a reminder on your calendar to also change your passwords. Changing passwords often makes your accounts just that much harder to reach.

🔐 Pause before clicking. Phishing remains the most commonly reported cybercrime in the country, more than any other category the FBI tracks.

🔐 Check statements regularly, and turn on account alerts. Catching something small and wrong early is a lot easier to unwind than catching something large and wrong months later.

🔐 Consider freezing your credit if you're not actively applying for new credit or loans. This takes 15 minutes, one time.

None of this requires becoming a security expert. Pick the one or two that you've been putting off, and do it this week.

10/03/2026

While my son was playing basketball with friends at the rec center today, I decided to step next door to our public library.

I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had been inside. These days, if I want a book, I usually download it to my Kindle or order it online. But I was looking for an out-of-print copy of The Challenge of Wealth: A Jewish Perspective on Earning and Spending Money, so I figured I would stop in and see if they could help.

What surprised me was how active the library was.

There was a costume exchange going on, movie nights, book club bags, a free notary service, and all of the traditional library programs you'd expect. It wasn't just a place to find books. It was a community hub.

My grandmother was a librarian, and my mom used to take me to the library all the time when I was a kid. Somewhere along the way, convenience took over. Kindle. Amazon. Everything available almost instantly.

Modern life tends to optimize for convenience, especially when we're busy. But sometimes slowing down and choosing the less convenient option opens up space to notice the community that's been there all along.

I'm glad I walked in today. It reminded me of something I didn't realize I was missing.

And thanks to the interconnected library system, the reference desk found my book.

10/02/2026

What's one financial decision you've made that helped you feel more prepared for your future?

For many of the people we work with, it's not a single investment or product; it's taking the time to create an overall strategy.

🗓️ October is Financial Planning Month—which is all about how the pieces of your financial picture fit together to help pursue your financial goals.

It's about putting together a comprehensive approach that manages your investments and retirement, provides for your loved ones—all while staying flexible enough to adjust as things change.

💡 If you've been meaning to update your strategy or to create one for the first time, it's never too late to start.