How Good Is the VIX Index at Predicting Market Volatility?
The VIX Index is one of those things people mention to sound smart. It’s just obscure enough that most people have heard of it, have some inkling of what it is, and feel like they should understand – but they don’t really…
A Boring Market is a Happy Market, so Why Can’t People Leave Their Portfolios Alone?
People use a lot of adjectives to describe the market, but we’re excited to say we are currently experiencing what we would call a “boring market.”
What Does Your Funded Ratio Score Mean?
We are really fond of the Funded Ratio because it allows us to provide a numerical picture of your retirement income plan. In our retirement income optimization process, you can create a framework by providing your preferences for your financial objectives and…
Should You Invest in Cryptocurrencies? (And What Are They Anyway?)
We’ve recently gotten some questions about investing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, so I want to take this chance to talk about them. To avoid burying the lede, let me just say this up front: they really aren’t viable investment options. First,…
RIO (Part 1): What Are the 4 Ls of Retirement Income Planning?
Last year, my colleague Alex Murguia and I spent considerable time developing and testing a Retirement Income Optimization (RIO) Map™ for commercial use at McLean Asset Management, where I serve as the Director of Retirement Research. In this series, we will outline…
The Problems with Indexing
Everyone is always looking for the perfect investment strategy. But investing, like everything in life, is about making trade-offs. It seems like there are a near infinite number of ways to invest, but they all fall into one of two broad categories:…
Why Can’t ‘Winning’ Active Managers Keep on Winning?
If you’ve read any of my previous articles, you know I’m not a fan of active management. The numbers show that it simply doesn’t work. There are several arguments against active fund managers, but one of the most damning is that winners…
The Difference Between ‘Safe’ and ‘Optimal’ Withdrawal Rates for Retirement Spending
Distinguishing between “safe” withdrawal rates and “optimal” withdrawal rates is an essential piece of the retirement spending conversation.
5 Companies Comprise One-Third of S&P 500 Returns – Is This the Death of Diversification?
Everyone is always eager to declare the death of diversification. They say it fails in a crisis, that correlations are going up throughout the markets, or that building a diversified portfolio is just too dang time-consuming and expensive (seriously). Now people are…
Taking Portfolio Spending into the Real World For Retirees
The Trinity study told us all that retirement is a failure if the investment portfolio is depleted, but that’s not necessarily true.
Heads My Stocks Win, Tails Yours Lose: The Difference Between Daily Returns and a Coin Flip
We all wonder how the markets did today. The news has trained us to care whether the Dow was up or down (even if the Dow is a mess). Since most people have money invested in the stock market, it’s an easy…
What Can the Retirement CARE Analysis™ Tell You About Your Retirement Plan?
The Retirement CARE Analysis can help you figure out your asset allocation and an appropriate spending rate for retirement.
