Someone asked me this question recently while I was attending a community event. Some people ask questions like this when they find out what I do for a living. It’s always difficult to find an answer for a question like this. On the one hand, the person may be genuinely curious about how their retirement … Read more
Investors are awash in data 24-7 and it’s a challenge to separate what’s important and what’s noise. Carl Richards is a popular personal finance coach and author. He once asked his readers to try this experiment. He asked them to think back over the last couple of years to a time when they read something … Read more
According to a study done by Capital One in 2019, many Americans are stressed out about their personal finances. The study found: 77% of participants reported feeling anxious about their financial situation 58% feeling that finances control their lives 43% feel fatigued about their finances. What money mistakes are people making that trigger these feelings? … Read more
We get this question often these days and a quick Google search of the question “will the stock market crash” provided 416 million results in ½ second. It seems to be a popular question. The short answer is “I don’t know, and no one knows.” Sorry to burst your bubble if you thought I had … Read more
Retirement planning doesn’t start when you’re 50 or older or if you’re within five years of retirement. Effective retirement planning needs to be done each decade. However, the tactic you use vary by age. 20’s Save early and save often. The magic of compounding interest is most powerful the younger you are. A dollar saved … Read more
While it is true that all 50 states allow you to write your own will, there are many pitfalls to avoid and a self-written will can be hazardous to your beneficiaries. For example, when Aretha Franklin died on August 16, 2018, she left her estate in a mess. She may have been the “Queen of … Read more
As a wise person once said, “If you think saving for retirement is hard, wait until you figure out how to take money out in retirement!” Yes, retirement withdrawal strategies are complicated and confusing for many reasons including: Tax issues Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rules Social Security Un-known health care costs Potential for long term … Read more
In case you were wondering, the COVID-19 induced recession was the shortest in U.S. history. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the recession lasted two months – from February 2020 to April 2020. The NBER is the official authority of when recessions begin and end. I thought the definition of a recession … Read more
I had a client ask me about “smart beta” investing recently because she saw the term in an article. I told her I didn’t know what it meant. I had to look it up. The term “smart beta investing” is a made-up term that is supposed to help explain an investing approach, but it just … Read more
The Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) is a pretty good organization, but their latest survey on retirement is ridiculous. I hope they didn’t spend too much money on this survey. Their findings are so obvious as to be comical. For example, the survey found: Retirees with guaranteed sources of income like Social Security and a … Read more
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