April 2025: Diary of a CFP® Pro — It’s Financial Literarcy Month! Maximize your money utilizing insights from award-winning financial planner Marguerita Cheng

Listen to the podcast on Inkandescent Radio Episode 103: Margaritas with Marguerita — Meet Ashley Quamme, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Financial Behavioral Specialist®, and Certified Financial Therapist-Practitioner™ July 28, 2023 — How can couples communicate better around money? In this interview with Ashley Quamme and Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, we learn about that and also how they can create shared goals and meaning to create a life well lived. Don't miss it!

A Note from Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, CEO Blue Ocean Global Wealth — Hello friends! I love April — not only are the cherry blossoms blooming here in the Washington, DC area, but it’s also Financial Literacy Month. My mission is to help you maximize your money using smart, savvy planning tools. Throughout my website, you’ll find tons of free information, including podcasts, videos, and articles about ways to harness your financial savvy.

April 14, 2025 — This just in: Investment News named me one of the “Best Certified Financial Planners in the USA | 5-Star Financial Planners,” The news outlet reports “Americans are facing a growing need for guidance and support in their financial affairs and that trend doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon. Not only are people wealthier, but their financial situations are more complex relative to previous generations due to more retirees relying on savings, an increase in the range of products available, and the explosion in alternative investments.” Consulting giant McKinsey & Company estimates that “by 2034, at current advisor productivity levels, the advisor workforce will decline to the point where the industry faces a shortage of roughly 100,000 advisors.” The sharp demand for CFP services has pushed InvestmentNews’ 5-Star Financial Planners to stand out in a dynamic market by exemplifying excellence, integrity, and dedication in helping their clients. Marguerita was nominated and then benchmarked against others to determine the country’s best. “While the winners have varying skill sets, a commonality is that the most successful financial planners specialize. They are serving a particular niche and have leveraged it to obtain a competitive edge,” the editors explain. Click here to see who else is a top CFP in 2025.

Margaritas with Marguerita podcast and video show: On my podcast and video show, Margaritas with Marguerita, we’ve conducted more than 100 conversations with leaders in the finance world who are determined to help you grow your confidence and wealth for your entire lives. Click here to listen to the podcasts on my Radio channel and find all of the video versions of the interviews on MargueritaCheng.tv.

Books by Marguerita: I can’t think of a better gift for women than to get a handle on our finances. Some may want to save more or invest more wisely. Others may need to learn to find ways to work better on money issues with their partners or make sure there’s enough money for their kids to attend college. Whatever your financial goal, click here for monthly ideas and insights in my latest book, Diary of a CFP® Pro. You’ll find more tips you can put into practice today in my first book, Wealth Management Rules.

News you can use: Below, you’ll find my media interviews and articles I’ve penned for publications including Kiplinger, USNews, and CNBC. I hope these will give you insights into what you need to do in the coming year! Click here to read all of the media mentions.

How can you maximize your financial plan? Click here to contact me today! — Rita

Marguerita in the News

I am honored: It is a thrill to be named one of the nation’s best financial planners by Money magazine. Editors surveyed more than 1,000 financial planners to arrive at the 80 best, who all earned high marks for qualifications, trust, services and customer service. Learn more here.

April 1, 2025, LinkedIn: CFP Board Director Marguerita (Rita) Cheng, CFP® Shares an Important Message “Women bring invaluable perspectives to financial planning — especially when helping clients through major life transitions,” says Marguerita. In today’s LinkedIn broadcast, the CFP Board Director shares how her caregiving experience has strengthened her ability to support clients and why more women should consider becoming CFP® professionals. Watch here!

March 26, 2025, Kiplinger: “Seven Common Tax Preparation Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)” — As the deadline for completing taxes looms ever closer, taxpayers across the country are scrambling to gather necessary forms and documents, ensure their numbers are correct and get this burdensome task off their to-do list. However, according to the tax and financial experts of Kiplinger Advisor Collective, preparing your taxes doesn’t need to be the dreaded task many make it out to be.

Here’s advice form Marguerita Cheng, CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth: Don’t put off getting organized — “The No. 1 mistake I see is a lack of organization and planning throughout the year. Better organization and planning can make tax preparation less challenging because you won’t be as overwhelmed or stressed.” Click here to read the other suggestions on Kiplinger.com.

VettaFi, March 15, 2025, “The Road to Exchange: Featuring Marguerita Cheng of Blue Ocean Global Wealth” — In honor of Women’s History Month, Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, was chosen to be featured the interview on the VettaFi show, given her expertise working with women as a financial planner.

In today’s interview, Roxanna Islam asks Rita: 

  • What led you to founding Blue Ocean Global Wealth and what do you think are some of the things that set you apart?
  • Financial planning is very comprehensive—it’s not just looking at stocks and bonds. Tell us about the sort of relationship a planner has with a client and what sort of aspects they help with.
  • I’ve heard you talk about making financial planning and advisory more accessible—whether that’s to women, younger generations, small business owners. What are some of the ways financial planning can be made more accessible?
  • What advice would you give a young financial planner, advisor (or anyone in the industry) that’s trying to succeed?
  • You’re involved across a lot of different communities in the financial world–what do you like about the ETF community
  • You’ve attended Exchange the past couple of years—what were some of your favorite parts of attending a conference like Exchange?

Be sure to watch the interview here and on MargueritaCheng.tv.

New York Times, March 2, 2025: “Do You Know How Much Your Spouse Makes? Some Couples Are Clueless.”

“Many couples are surprisingly unaware about key aspects of each other’s finances — and that can hurt them. Here’s how to get on the same page,” writes reporter Diane Harris in today’s New York Times. “Here’s a pop quiz for married couples. Do you know your spouse’s salary? What about the balance of your partner’s 401(k) — and credit card? Bonus points if you can cite how much your husband or wife thinks you need to live comfortably in retirement, or even what age he or she hopes that will happen.

If you’re like most married people, you’re sure you’ll ace this test. Nearly nine in 10 couples say they communicate well with their partner about money, and 94 percent say they are open and transparent with their better half about finances, according to studies released last year by the financial services companies Fidelity and Ameriprise.”

“In reality? Not so much,” Diane explains. She reached out to Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro, for insight. Click here to read more about it.

USNews & World Report, February 2025: “What ETF Has the Highest Dividend Yield?” Learn all about it in this month’s column by Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro

There are many criteria dividend investors can use to narrow down the list of available exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. Dividend yield – the annual dividends paid by an asset divided by its market price – is one of those factors.

There are many criteria dividend investors can use to narrow down the list of available exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. Dividend yield – the annual dividends paid by an asset divided by its market price – is one of those factors.

Also, if multiple ETFs are equally attractive to you (based on factors like expense ratio, dividend growth, dividend consistency and risk profile), you can use dividend yield as the deciding factor to choose the one to buy. Just remember, though, that most investors consider total return the ultimate measuring stick, and just because a stock or fund has a high dividend yield doesn’t mean its total return is high. Therefore, inclusion in this lineup of ETFs is not necessarily an endorsement.

So, Which ETF Has the Highest Dividend Yield? Click here to read the entire article.

Click here to read more articles featuring insights from Marguerita Cheng: In the News

Blue Ocean Global Wealth headquarters:

9841 Washingtonian Blvd., #200
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
301.502.5306 / 888.731.3117 (fax)
mcheng@blueoceanglobalwealth.com

About Marguerita M. Cheng: Rita is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Ocean Global Wealth.  She has also been a spokesperson for the AARP Financial Freedom Campaign and a regular columnist for Investopedia & Kiplinger. Previously, she was a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial and an analyst and editor at Towa Securities in Tokyo, Japan.

Her certifications include: CFP® professional, Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM, Retirement Income Certified Professional® and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. As a Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) Ambassador, Marguerita helps educate the public, policy makers, and media about the benefits of competent, ethical financial planning. She serves as a Women’s Initiative (WIN) Advocate and subject matter expert for CFP Board, contributing to the development of examination questions for the CFP® Certification Examination.

Rita volunteers for several organizations including: CFP Board Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (DEC) hearings, she has also served on the Financial Planning Association (FPA) National Board of Directors from 2013-2015 and is a past president of the Financial Planning Association of the National Capital Area (FPA NCA).

Her awards include: Ameriprise Financial Presidential Award for Quality of Advice and the prestigious Japanese Monbukagakusho Scholarship. In 2017, she was named the #3 Most Influential Financial Advisor in the Investopedia Top 100, a Woman to Watch by InvestmentNews, and a Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise (MBE®) by the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council (CRMSDC).

Click here to learn more about Blue Ocean Global Wealth and email Marguerita today!