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  • ​On this website I have summarized some basic ideas about personal financial planning. Please use the Contact page to reach me if you have questions regarding your personal finances in these challenging times and I'll try to provide guidance:

  • Personal budgets 
 
  • Saving and investing
 
  • Pensions, IRA’s, 401k’s and social security
 
  • Health insurance, life and long-term care insurance
 
  • Estate plans, gifts and wills 
 
  • Financial Advisors
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There is a tab you can click for each of these topics. If you have a question about any of them I would be happy to respond. Just go to the CONTACT tab to ask me so I can try to help you.
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ABOUT ME


My name is Robin (Rob) Fryer and my website sets out simple ideas about personal financial planning based on my personal experience of what works and what does not.  I live in Connecticut, USA having moved here with my family from South Africa in 1988. I am a CPA, retired from practice with one of the “Big Four” firms, where I spent most of my career auditing the financial statements of large international companies. I also have a deep interest in personal financial planning and have long managed my own financial affairs.
 
I should also tell you what I am not. I am not an advisor on personal financial planning; I do not have a CFP, PFS or similar qualification, or a license in the financial planning area. What I do have is an education that includes the basics of finance, accounting, economics, tax and business law and the administration of estates. More importantly, personal financial planning is a hobby, so I read a great deal about the subject and do my best to keep up to date on changes to applicable laws and regulations.
 
So, what is this website about? As I say, I handle the financial planning for myself, as well as for my spouse, and did so for my children when they were minors. Periodically I review my investment portfolio, retirement planning, health and life insurance cover, and estate planning, as I believe all of us should. Recently I started making notes of the important things I have learnt about these topics over the years, to help me think about any changes I might need to make. As I read my notes and considered my own situation, I thought why not expand the notes – so they are full sentences and paragraphs – and make them available for others to read on the web.  There may be people who will find some of my ideas on personal financial planning helpful and relevant to their own situation. So that is what I have done on this website. 
 
When I first came to the US, I had to learn a new fiscal and regulatory regime as it applies to personal finance, one that is different from other countries, and I set about doing that. What I have written here, therefore, is essentially relevant only to US residents and most of it will not be useful to residents of other countries with different laws and regulations. 
 
Please recognize that I am not here to give tailored, personal advice, only to share what I have learnt in managing my own financial affairs. I have included on this site a short section on Financial Advisors that you may care to read if are thinking about obtaining personal advice. I take no responsibility if you act on anything I have written without first obtaining advice from a qualified financial advisor. Having said that, if you have specific questions about any aspect of what I have written, I would be happy to respond and try to provide clarity. You can reach me by going to the Contact tab on this site.
 
Also, if you disagree with me on anything, have suggestions about other points I might address, or simply want to let me know what you think, I look forward to hearing from you. If I can make this site more useful I would like to do that. I wish you luck with your financial planning.
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Rob Fryer
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SOME MORE ABOUT ME​


 Yes, that is me in my backyard in beautiful Connecticut. I love the outdoors, including doing chores in the yard. I am a long-distance runner, having completed 76 marathons (with a best time of 2hours 44 minutes) and 44 “ultra-marathons” of longer than the marathon distance, including the famous 56-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa 13 times. I also enjoy swimming in the summer and skiing in the winter and play bad tennis and bad golf.
 
Hiking is another passion. Three years ago, I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and back up again in 6 ½ hours, and the following year completed the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing in New Zealand in under 6 hours. Last  year I hiked in Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks  As a lover of protecting open space and the natural environment I serve on the board of my local Land Trust, whose mission is to preserve open space in our community. I am also on the board of the town’s Community Foundation, the primary local charitable resource.
 
I was born in the United Kingdom and have also lived in Continental Europe and South Africa. I love to travel and have visited every continent several times (except Antarctica – yet). In late 2018 my wife and I took a cruise down the Danube and visited Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania for the first time. 

It would be rare today, but I worked for only one employer for an entire career, in five different countries. My LinkedIn profile has some brief information on my professional career as a CPA.