Michael Hollis, Financial Planner & Coach

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Michael Hollis, Financial Planner & Coach

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CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional | Financial Coach
Founder of

A financial plan only changes your life if it leaves the page!

10/28/2026

If daycare is one of your biggest monthly expenses, check out the Dependent Care FSA during Open Enrollment.

Here's what a dual-income couple needs to know.

The limit was finally raised after a long time, from $5,000 to $7,500 starting in 2026.

That's $7,500 per household.

Each of your employers will let you sign up for the full amount, so you have to be mindful of overcontributing.
Anything more, and it becomes extra taxable income when you file.
For that reason, it's probably better to pick just one plan, plus it's easier to manage one account for expense reimbursement.

It's a great tax benefit because you avoid Social Security and Medicare taxes on the contribution too when it's coming out of your paycheck.

A few other things to know:

• You both generally need to be earning income from work
• Unlike a health FSA, the full election isn't available right away, only your contributions to date.
• File Form 2441 with your tax return to reconcile expenses

Contributions for high earners might be capped lower than $7,500 because of plan fairness testing, so check with HR.

The Dependent Care credit is another option if your employer doesn't offer the DCFSA.

I prepare taxes for my ongoing planning clients, and this is one of those nuanced tax benefits that are part of tax planning and return reviews.

This is not tax or investment advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement.

10/26/2026

If you’re a college student, sometimes the best birthday present is simply getting groceries.

10/25/2026

On the way to visit our son for parent’s weekend and his 21st birthday 🎉🎉🎉. Dinner out, hanging around campus, meeting his roommates, and taking the whole crew out for his birthday in downtown Ames.

10/23/2026

Today my wealth is for throwing out the two month old hardened and dry Costco peanut butter without finishing the jar in favor of returning to my beloved Trader Joe’s luscious and creamy sunflower seed butter.

10/21/2026

"They can just take me out back and shoot me."

I've actually heard someone say that out loud expressing their disdain for insurance. The spouse sitting next to them had the complete opposite opinion.

Opposites attract, right?

Let's avoid either extreme.

Try answering one question together.

If one paycheck stopped next year, because of a death or a disability, what would the other person need to keep the house running and life as normal as possible for you and the kids?

Open enrollment gives both of you the opportunity to rethink life and disability elections, so it's a good time to challenge your mindset.

Many people underweight the value of disability coverage, but statistically it's the bigger risk before retirement.

Group coverage is a good start, but it's tied to the job, so if you leave, it usually doesn't come with you.

You can often find better life coverage on your own, but sometimes the employer coverage is the only thing you can qualify for, and new employees can often get it without medical underwriting.

Insurance is boring and can feel like a scam...until the day you need it.

This is not tax or investment advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement.

10/20/2026

I dont know why, but I chuckle a little every time I hear the term Mega Backdoor Roth.

I always hear it in this Sale of the Century sort of voiceover.

It's not a technical term, but the strategy is real.

It's a nice way to get more money stuffed into a tax-deferred/tax-free retirement account when you are a high-income earner.

10/16/2026

Two pieces of news on the Social Security front.

The 2027 cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) was just announced at 3.6%. That’s meaningfully higher than the 2.8% increase retirees received in 2026.

It’s reflective of continued inflationary pressures.

On average, that equates to about $75 more per month for the average retiree.

Just shows me that I don’t want Social Security to be my only source of retirement income.

Second, the wage base is rising to $192,300. That’s the amount of your wages subject to the 12.4% Social Security tax.

Half of that comes right out of your paycheck, and your employer picks up the other half.

Nothing changes for most workers, but the increase means up to about $484/yr. in additional tax for workers who earn above the old wage base. The same increase in expense applies to employers.

This morning, the mainstream media is sounding fresh alarms about the solvency of the Social Security trust fund. That’s what covers the gap when the benefits paid out are more than the payroll taxes collected from current workers.

Some believe the bigger COLA could speed up the depletion of the trust fund.

Congress needs to act to fix that.
That remains to be seen.

10/15/2026

Debt is not some unpardonable sin.

There’s so much shame around our money.

The last thing we need is something else that reinforces that.

But there’s no question debt is risky, unwise, and holds us back from the life we could be leading.

We didn’t have tremendous debt, but personally it kept us in a paycheck-to-paycheck cycle, always moving money from account B to cover the shortfall in account A while we waited for the next paycheck, making no discernible financial progress.

And all that changed with one pivotal decision.

Do we do a cash-out refi for a reno of our house into the house of our dreams, or do we go hog-wild in the exact opposite direction with our pants on fire?

We chose pants on fire, took our savings account safety blanket, paid off all of our debt, and spent the next five months rebuilding an even more robust emergency fund.

That included stopping our measly 5% 401(k) contribution temporarily and looking for every which way to increase our income, from working events to cleaning houses to selling decades-old He-Man toys to driving Uber Eats.

And we got there.

As fast as we could possibly run.

Monthly, I’d print a thermometer showing our progress.

The tool that made it all work was a detailed, monthly, zero-based budget that we decided on together. Spit-shake, pinky promise that we’d stick to it.

And we did.

We’ve been doing it ever since.

Our kids saw it all.

Today?

This foundation we set is a big part of what made it feel like we could take the risks that we had dreamed about.

Changing careers, taking a month-long sabbatical, starting a business.

We were blessed along the way by gifts we didn’t expect, so we don’t chalk it up 100% to our efforts.

But we laid the foundation before any of that.

Maybe the most underappreciated part of this whole decision is how it made our relationship even stronger.

And this is why I believe so strongly that eliminating debt from your life is an absolute game changer.

10/15/2026

An old proverb says, “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves. Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

Fools folding their hands is a picture of one end of a spectrum. It represents being unproductive or slothful.

The other end is two handfuls. That’s pursuing more and more to the detriment of relationship and purpose, and never finding satisfaction.

The writer is cautioning against both extremes and commending "enough" with contentment.

Financial planning helps me illuminate what "enough" actually means.

Numbers are important, absolutely, but next-level financial planning also uncovers what my money is for on the way to defining enough.

And defining enough is the practical part of finding contentment.

And finding that is great gain.

Pictured is an example of my "one handful" when I spent an afternoon shredding trails at the Offield Viewlands in Harbor Springs, MI with my brother-in-law in between working on my young business.

10/14/2026

Whose plan should the kids be on, yours or your spouse's?

A lot of couples leave it the same year to year.

It can be exhausting to untangle plan differences, but it's worth a fresh look to make sure the plan and costs are best for your situation.

Here are other factors to consider besides the bolded premium amount.

In network vs. out of network: Check to make sure the pediatrician you use is in network.

Copay: Is the cost of a sick visit all on you or is it a flat rate like $25 or $30?

Deductible: What you pay before the plan starts sharing costs.

Deductible Type: Is your deductible embedded or not? With embedded each family member has their own threshold, so the plan starts paying sooner for one person. Without that, you have a higher family deductible to meet.

Coinsurance: The percentage of a bill you are responsible for. 20% is common. This is your continued responsibility after you've met the deductible.

Out-of-pocket max: The most you'll pay in a year for care. This includes copays, your deductible, then coinsurance. Only after you meet this number does the insurance company pay 100%.

Each of these influences the monthly premium. Generally, the more of the cost you take on through copays, the deductible, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket max, the lower the premium, and the more you need to set aside to cover your responsibility.

If your kids see the doctor a lot, the PPO may cost less overall, even with a higher premium.

This is not tax or investment advice. Always consult a qualified professional regarding your specific situation. Advisory services are offered only under a written agreement.

Address

Aurora, IL
60506

Telephone

+13316848234

Website

https://certificates.cfp.net/099541cd-d0e7-4ff3-80fc-75257e4622a1#acc.RfiaXLdh, https://www.tapestryfp.com/, https://www

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