Featured Articles
Introduction
I’m Bob French, the investments guy at Retirement Researcher. I’m also the Director of Investment Analysis at McLean Asset Management. My goal here is to help you use your investments to meet your retirement goals.
Prior to joining Retirement Researcher and McLean Asset Management, I was in charge of designing the analytical engine for instream – a financial planning tool that financial advisors use with their clients. I became a CFA Charterholder in 2010.
Before instream, I was at Dimensional Fund Advisors, and I was in charge of a data analysis tool that they provided to their financial advisor clients. Aside from helping people with the mechanics of the tool, most of my time was spent helping them understand how to interpret and explain the results to their clients. And it’s this piece – just writ a little larger – that I’m excited to have the opportunity to do here at Retirement Researcher. All of the information that you need to invest well is out there (somewhere), but I want to help give you the context and understanding to use that information to reach the retirement that you deserve.
Unpacking Today’s Market Returns
Today, March 9th, 2020, was a bad day for the financial markets. There are four main elements to this story that I want to pick apart…
The Coronavirus and Your Investments
The Coronavirus is scary. When it’s possible to make reasonable comparisons with the Spanish Flu, that should make you sit up and take notice. Aside from the reasonable precautions that you should be taking, what should you be doing to protect your…
The Coronavirus and Its Effects on the Market and Your Retirement
Just like many other areas of life, the novel Coronavirus is having a significant impact on the financial markets.
Are Stocks Safer in the Long-Term?
When you’re investing, you need to focus on the long-term. This is one of those pieces of received wisdom that everyone has heard, but it’s often wildly misinterpreted. There’s an idea that stocks get safer the longer you hold onto them because you can ride out the bad periods if you are disciplined enough – it’s just a matter of sticking around until the market rewards you for being a “good investor.” To put it simply, this is not the case.
The Yield Curve is Inverted. Don’t Panic.
Wednesday was another “interesting” day in the markets. The S&P 500 Index was down almost 3% on the day – and follows on the heels of last Monday, where the market was also down nearly 3%. It’s been an eventful week and…
What Does it Mean to Call China a Currency Manipulator?
Monday (August 5th, 2019) was a chaotic day for both the world economy and markets. We want to break down what’s happened, and how that will likely impact your investments.
Ignore the Financial Media
WHAT IS OCCAM’S RAZOR? Occam’s Razor is a principle attributed to William Occam, a 14th century philosopher. He stressed that explanations must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary. Thus, Occam’s Razor is a term used to “shave off” or dismiss superfluous…
Can TIPS Help You?
Inflation is one of the most pernicious risks facing retirees. While there are a lot of ways to manage inflation risk, TIPS, or Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, are one of the few investment options that directly hedge against inflation risk. They aren’t…
Should You Try Timing to Avoid Bad Markets?
WHAT IS OCCAM’S RAZOR? Occam’s Razor is a principle attributed to William Occam, a 14th century philosopher. He stressed that explanations must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary. Thus, Occam’s Razor is a term used to “shave off” or dismiss superfluous…
How Does the Market in 2018 Stack Up Historically
There’s been a lot of ‘sturm und drang’ around what the markets have been doing lately. The financial media has been talking about how this is the sign of the inevitable end of the world. Of course, we’ve had a few things lately that were also…
Is There Such a Thing as “Too Diversified?”
A client brought up the concept of being too diversified recently, and it gave me pause. My initial reaction was that there is no such thing . Diversification is a good thing. It allows you to minimize risks inherent in individual investments…
The Art of Disciplined Investing
Often the least sexy advice is the right advice. It’s not exciting, but it will accomplish your goals. This goes for investing, too. Think of your portfolio as a farm. You’ll have good years and bad years, but if you focus on…