Micah D. Larson, CFP

Labor Day weekend is here and college football is back!

My Gophers kicked things off right Thursday night with a 59-7 win. And tomorrow my alma mater takes the field — Auburn vs. Baylor in Atlanta, 3:30 ET. New head coach, a nine-game season-opener win streak on the line, and a team that's out to prove this year is different.

Grills going all weekend, a full Saturday slate of games, and the NFL kicks off the following Wednesday. Summer's last weekend and football's first weekend, all rolled into one.

Fire up the grill, find a good game to watch, and enjoy the long weekend. Football season is officially here. 🏈🔥 War Eagle.

My 4-year-old and I were playing this wooden labyrinth game after dinner the other night.

(It's a minor miracle we can still play it — we've lost the balls for it about 15 times. Story for another day.)

I got up to grab some Oreos for us. When I came back, she told me she'd made it all the way to spot 31.

I was Flabbergasted.

She said, "Yeah, watch this" — and dropped the ball in the bottom right corner.

"Honey, you have to start where it says START."

"No. I'm starting from right here."

Kids don't know they're supposed to start at the start. They just start where they are.

Something to say about starting where you are. 👣

Forbes suspended its advisor rankings this week over a pay-to-play scandal. Meanwhile I paid one cookie and got named Best Advisor in Central Florida by a much tougher panel: my daughters.

Obligatory disclaimer: there are plenty of phenomenal, actually-vetted advisors out there and on those lists. My girls' panel just has lower standards 😂

Tomorrow marks 2 years since I got this nice piece of paper.

Funny how when I didn't have it, it felt like everyone asked if I was a CFP® professional. Now that I have it, almost nobody asks!

This also marked the first time I paid my annual fee to keep using it. Oof!

Either way, I'm thankful for everything I learned along the way and proud to be a CFP® professional. Have a great weekend, everyone!

The Dodgers traded for Tarik Skubal this weekend. Three prospects, no cash considerations, and the best pitcher in baseball walks into a rotation that already has two Cy Youngs in it.

Everyone's mad about the money. I'd argue it's not the spending — it's the flexibility.

LA owes over $1 billion in deferred compensation stretching to 2047. That's not a loophole, it's the same tool corporate America has used for decades: push the obligation out, keep today's balance sheet clean, stay liquid enough to act when an opportunity shows up.

Now look at my Minnesota Twins. Highest-paid player on the books hasn't thrown a pitch all season. Third-biggest line item is a check we mail to Houston for a shortstop who plays for someone else.

Same sport. Same rules. Completely different capacity to move.

This is the whole thing in personal finance too. It's rarely about who earns the most. It's about who has room to say yes when the moment comes — and who's still paying for decisions they made three years ago.

The CBA expires December 1. I think we're headed for a lockout, and it won't just be about the teams that spend too much. It'll be about the ones that don't spend at all.

Which is worse as a fan of baseball: having teams that can buy anyone, or teams that won't buy anybody?

Something I find myself saying to nearly every widow I work with:

"You're doing better than you think."

They rarely believe me at first. They apologize for the stack of unopened mail, for not knowing where the accounts are, for getting emotional in a meeting that was supposed to be about paperwork. They're convinced they're failing at this.

But what I actually see is someone who is still standing. Still showing up. Still trying to do right by the person they lost and the people who count on her.

That's not failing. That's one of the hardest things a person is ever asked to do — and she's doing it.

If that's you right now: the mail can wait. You're doing better than you think. And you don't have to figure it out alone.