Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC®

💵 CFP® professional helping families and business owners build confidence around retirement, risk, and long-term financial decisions.

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

It’s Faithful Friday!

One week in with my partnership with my new firm, Meadowland Financial.

Isaiah 43:19 is fitting this week: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

God doesn’t waste transitions.

Grateful for those trusting me with this next chapter. Grateful for a team that leads with integrity. Grateful for a God who goes before us into every new season.

Excited for what’s ahead.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

It’s Faithful Friday!

“Do not be anxious about anything... present your requests to God. And the peace of God... will guard your hearts and your minds.” (Philippians 4:6-7, NIV)

There’s a real connection between financial clutter and mental clutter. Scattered accounts and no real plan take up headspace, even on days you’re not thinking about money.

A real plan frees that up. Not because the money changes overnight, but because the uncertainty does.

The goal of planning well isn’t just a bigger number. It’s getting your mind back.

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@markcecchini Had a “Mike” years ago who wanted me to turn $10,000 into a “safe” dividend portfolio that would cover their rent.
I told them it wasn’t possible.
They said they’d find a more experienced advisor.

Oh Mike…

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

There’s real value in simplicity. Or at least understanding things at a high level.

I meet people who can’t tell me their account types or what they’re paying in fees, but they can explain options strategies they saw online.

That’s backwards.

You don’t need to understand derivatives pricing to build real wealth. You need to understand your own situation: what you have, what you’re paying, and what the plan actually is, in plain language.

Complexity can feel like sophistication. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn’t.

You don’t need to be the smartest person in the room about every topic.

You need to understand your own plan well enough to know if it’s working.

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Seeing “finance guys” online argue a “safe” 12% in the stock market is pointless when you could get 30%+ in crypto.

A few problems. Nothing about stock market returns is guaranteed, the long-run S&P average is closer to 10%, and that’s an average across decades of good and bad years, not a promise.

Comparing that to a cherry-picked crypto year isn’t a real comparison. Crypto can post huge gains and also lose 70-80% the next year, which has happened repeatedly.

Higher potential return almost always means higher risk of real loss, not just bigger swings.

“Skip the market, go all-in on whatever had one great year” isn’t a strategy. It’s a highlight reel mistaken for a track record.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@Brian_Peotter Timely with my post yesterday about helping people not do stupid stuff with their money

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@conneryoungBC CROSSOVER!

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

South Dakota just announced “Give Me Five”: eligible first-time buyers get a 5% down payment boost, a forgivable second mortgage with no monthly payments, forgiven after 5 years if you stay in the home.

Sounds like free money. In some sense, it is. But here’s what rarely gets talked about.

A down payment is a built-in signal. Having to save real money before buying naturally limits what buyers can afford, which keeps prices tethered to what people can actually save.

Lower that barrier for a large group of buyers at once, in a market where supply hasn’t grown, and prices often adjust upward to absorb it. This is a known pattern with down payment assistance programs generally, not unique to South Dakota.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use it if you qualify. It just means you’re not only getting help, you’re also part of a shift in demand that affects the next buyer too.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Last week, a financial advisor friend of mine said on his way to the office: “Off to help people not do stupid stuff with their money!”

Blunt, but more accurate than most of what gets said about this job.

People picture financial advice as picking stocks or finding some secret strategy. In reality, a huge part of it is preventing bad decisions: panic-selling during a scary headline, a timeshare that sounded like a deal, co-signing a loan without thinking it through, raiding retirement savings for something that feels urgent but isn’t.

A lot of real financial progress isn’t made by doing something brilliant. It’s made by not doing something dumb at the exact moment you were about to.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

It’s Faithful Friday!

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34, NIV)

That’s often misread as being about violence. It isn’t. It’s about priorities and the friction that comes with choosing what matters most, even when it creates tension with people around you, even family.

Financial planning creates that same friction. Living below your means when everyone’s upgrading. Saying no to lending money to family or friends when it isn’t wise. Having the hard conversation with a spouse about spending. Giving when others think you should save more, or saving when others think you should spend more.

None of that is comfortable. Good financial decisions often aren’t.

More importantly, none of this matters if you deny Jesus before men. “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5, NIV)

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Most people check their portfolio when it’s built. Almost nobody checks under the hood three years later.

A portfolio that was exactly right on day one can be meaningfully wrong a few years later, and most people don’t know until something forces them to look.

Hands-on management means rebalancing as markets move, adjusting as life changes, tax-loss harvesting and withdrawal strategy handled ongoing, not set once.

But a well-managed portfolio next to an outdated beneficiary or no tax strategy is still an incomplete picture.

A portfolio gets built once. A plan gets managed for decades.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@markcecchini Facts brotha🙌🏼

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Your portfolio can be up 20% this year and your plan can still be falling apart underneath it.

A money manager’s job is narrow: manage the investments. Allocate, rebalance, grow the portfolio.

A financial planner’s job is broader: taxes, retirement income, insurance, estate planning, Social Security, and how it all fits together. Investments are one piece.

A money manager can grow your portfolio and still leave real exposure, a beneficiary still listed as an ex-spouse nobody ever updated, no tax strategy on withdrawals, no plan for long-term care.

If nobody’s looked at the whole picture, a managed portfolio isn’t a plan. It’s a performance number with no safety net.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@conneryoungBC Bold strategy. The sequence of returns risk is real, but the sequence of cellmates risk feels higher.

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

To fall asleep, you have to first pretend to be asleep. Lie still, breathe slowly, close your eyes, even though your mind’s still going. Act like it’s already happening, and eventually it is.

I think about that a lot with money.

Nobody feels like a disciplined saver before they start saving. The automatic transfer gets set up first, usually before it feels natural, and the habit builds from there.

Most people wait for the confidence to show up before they act. Set up the plan, then see if it feels right.

It rarely works in that order.

The feeling of being “good with money” shows up after the decision. Not before it.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

A 30% drop on a $2,000,000 portfolio is $600,000. That's what makes "are we in a bubble" feel less academic.

Nobody actually knows. Anyone who tells you they do is guessing with confidence.

Reasons we might be: top 10 S&P 500 stocks are ~37-38% of the index (vs ~18% a decade ago, now above the 2000 dot-com peak), forward P/E around 19 vs a 25-year average of ~17, heavy AI speculation.

Reasons we might not be: today's biggest companies are the most profitable in history, trading at ~34x forward earnings vs. ~43x at the 2000 peak. Earnings have grown alongside prices.

What matters more than predicting a bubble: is your portfolio built to survive one?

Long-term investors don't need to predict every top and bottom. They need a plan built to survive the ones they can't predict.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

It's Faithful Friday!

"So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father." (Colossians 1:10-12, NIV)

Growth, endurance, and gratitude aren't separate goals. They work together.

Same with money. Build with patience, steward with intention, and let gratitude be part of the process, not something you get to after you've "made it."

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

@money_cruncher This assumes you get the same return and planning with a lower fee.
Most people use an advisor to defer the time investment it takes to feel confident enough to do it all yourself.

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

"I feel behind." That's one of the most common things people say the first time we sit down together.

A lot of that feeling comes from disorganization, money scattered across accounts, an old 401(k) nobody's looked at, no real sense of how it fits together. Even if the numbers are fine, scattered feels behind.

"Behind" is usually a feeling, not a fact. A real measurement comes from your actual numbers, goals, and timeline.

Organizing it brings intention. Intention is where confidence comes from.

You can't fix a feeling with anxiety. You fix it with information.

One of those is a weight on your shoulders. The other is a plan to lift it.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Your advisor's paycheck is shaping the advice you get, whether you realize it or not. Every compensation model has a built-in incentive, and none are conflict-free.

Flat fee: I've seen a couple pay $3,000 for a plan that was a single-page PDF, never implemented.

Hourly: I've seen a 30-hour PowerPoint that could've been a 2-page PDF.

AUM: on a $500K portfolio, 1.25% is $6,250/year whether they spend 2 hours or 20.

Commissions: I've seen a young person put nearly 15% of their income into an insurance policy when it clearly wasn’t appropriate for their situation and goals.

The real question isn't which model is conflict-free. There isn't one. It's whether your advisor discloses how they're paid and gives you great planning despite it.

Cheers!

-Ryan

[Ryan Landmark, CFP®, RICP®, ChFC® @rtlandmark]

Here are the top 10 reasons people hire me for planning:

-They don't know if they're on track.
-They're nearing or in retirement and don't know how to turn savings into income.
-Their accounts are scattered across old employers and random firms.
-They don't have a real tax strategy.
-They want a second opinion on a plan they already have.
-They just went through a major life change.
-They're capable, but don't have time to manage it themselves.
-They want their family protected (insurance, beneficiaries, estate docs).
-They're not confident making big financial decisions alone.
-They want to actually enjoy their money, not just stack it.

If more than one of these sounds like you, let's talk.

Cheers!

-Ryan