Donovan Miller, LPL Financial Planner

04/28/2026

We paid for PMI 10 months longer than we needed to and it cost us $430.

My fiancée and I had been making extra payments toward our mortgage and didn’t realize we had already reached 20% equity.

If you put less than 20% down when you bought your home, you’re likely paying PMI (private mortgage insurance).

With conventional loans, you can usually request to have PMI removed once you reach about 20% equity. If you just follow the normal payment schedule, it should be automatically removed around 22%.

But if your home has appreciated or you’ve been making extra principal payments, you might be able to remove it sooner than you think.

In our case, we simply emailed our loan servicer and they removed it without an appraisal.

If you have an FHA loan, it’s a little different. PMI (technically MIP) usually doesn’t go away unless you refinance into a conventional loan.

The funny part is I helped a couple clients remove their PMI around the same time 🤦‍♂️

04/28/2026

Enjoy the conference, Nick!

04/14/2026

In retirement, investing “conservatively” isn't always safe.

Look at the chart below. At higher withdrawal rates, more conservative portfolios actually have a lower historical chance of success.

If you define risk as running out of money, being too conservative can work against you.

04/02/2026

I invested some money in the market today. Here’s why:

1. I do every month.
2. I have a long time horizon, I don’t worry about short-term volatility.
3. S&P 500 forward earnings have grown this year, but stock prices have come down. Paying less for companies that are making more money is usually a good thing (in the long run).
4. Even if I thought markets were headed lower (which often happens during downtrends), I’d still buy. Because I do every month.

We often see people let cash build up in a checking account, then invest it all at once every 6–12 months. This leads to a lot of behavioral mistakes - trying to time the market, waiting for “less uncertainty” (which never happens), or second guessing decisions.

Setting up recurring investments helps take those decisions off the table.

03/26/2026

We’re hiring! As we continue to grow, we’re looking to add a client-facing Financial Advisor to our team.

Responsibilities:

• Meet with clients 1-on-1 to provide planning guidance

• Build and maintain strong, long-term client relationships

• Develop and update financial plans using eMoney

• Work closely with our team to deliver a high level of service to clients

Ideal Candidate:

• 2-7 years of industry experience

• Series 7/66 or equivalent

• CFP® designation or seeking CFP® designation

• Client-first mindset with a passion for helping people reach their goals

• Organized, dependable, and growth-oriented

Compensation:

• Competitive base compensation based on experience and qualifications

• Performance-based bonus structure

About Us:

We’re a small, independent financial advisory practice located in Charlotte, NC. Our team includes three advisors, all CFP® Professionals, and an administrative assistant.

If you or someone you know is interested, send me a direct message sharing why you’d enjoy this role, being part of our team, and a little bit about yourself.

03/18/2026

Thank you to everyone at the FPA of Charlotte who came to the cash flow panel yesterday, and thank you to Pam Horack, CFP® & Tara Butler, CFP®, CEPA® for joining me in talking about some different strategies.

The message we all shared was that cash flow/spending is more emotional than mathematical, and it's important for our industry to understand that and meet clients where they are.

Our job isn't to shame clients for spending habits (which is a real fear prospective clients have). Everyone has different financial priorities/values, our job is to help them understand tradeoffs and how different goals/spending habits interact.

03/10/2026

I've had a few people ask:

Having more money in one account doesn't make it grow any faster than having it in separate accounts.

If you have 10 accounts with $100,000 each versus one account with $1 million and it goes up 10%, you be at $1.1m either way.

Send a message to learn more

03/03/2026

"Should I pay down my mortgage or invest?"

Here's how I think about it:

For mortgages under 5%, historically the math has favored investing. Even during some of the worst long-term stretches for U.S. stocks, returns were still in the high single digits. Over long periods, markets have outpaced low borrowing costs.

Between 5–7%, it’s a gray area. At that point, it’s less about spreadsheets and more about risk tolerance and peace of mind.

Above 7%, paying it down usually makes sense, as long as you’re not draining your emergency savings to do it. When paying off a mortgage gives you a guaranteed 7%+ return, that should be a priority (assuming your other goals are on track).

At the end of the day, there’s no perfect answer.

If you're fully funding your other goals and being debt-free helps you sleep at night, lean that direction. If you prioritize having a large chunk of liquid investments to pay your bills in case of a layoff, that matters too.

02/26/2026

"I left that poker table, everyone left was a professional and I didn't stand a chance. Anyway, what do you think about trading NVDA options?"

Is a completely fictional quote I just made up, but it serves a point.

Stock picking and day trading is a waste of time for 99% of people, and it’s probably hurting your returns.

You’re trading against hedge funds and algorithms, it’s just not a winning game.

Have a long-term investing strategy and stick with it.

02/09/2026

I've been seeing more people with hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions of dollars in a single stock.

Why that makes me nervous:

Stock returns are positively skewed. Only about 20% of individual stocks outperform the market over a 20-year period.

A small handful of companies drive almost all of the market's long-term gains.

By owning broad-market ETFs or mutual funds, you make sure you own those big winners. And while you won't see many 100% up years, you're far less likely to experience the 50% down years.

02/03/2026

I don't always practice what I preach...

We constantly tell our clients to freeze their credit on all three bureaus (plus ChexSystems).

It was something I procrastinated on until today. It took me less than 10 minutes.

It could have cost me hours of cancelling fraudulent loans, filing IRS fraud reports, etc. (this happened to my fiancée, not fun).

I honestly thought it would take longer. This is your sign to do it right now. I promise whatever Facebook posts are below this aren't that important.

01/27/2026

You put a few hundred thousand dollars into a money market or CD when rates were around 5%.

In 2024, those rates dropped to ~4.5%.

Now they’re closer to 3.5%.

The market is pricing in two rate cuts this year, which would bring most of these rates near 3%.

If you’re in the 30% federal + state tax bracket, you’re looking at about 2% after taxes, below long-term inflation averages.

Losing purchasing power is arguably riskier than short-term market volatility.

If you’re ready to look at some longer-term options, talk with your financial advisor.

You don’t need to go out and get crazy speculative, but there’s probably a better balance for you.

Chart via CME Group FedWatch