Understanding Bond Returns
Bonds may not be as flashy as stocks, but they form the bedrock of your portfolio, so you should understand how they work.
Which Retirement Spending Strategy Is Right For You?
Deciding on the right retirement spending strategy for your particular situation is both incredibly difficult, and incredibly important. There are huge numbers of reasonable options, but how do you know which is right for you? The answer depends on several factors.
Retirement Spending And Required Minimum Distributions
One final spending rule serves as a reasonably easy way to implement an actuarial method for retirement spending. Actuarial methods generally have retirees recalculate their sustainable spending annually based on the remaining portfolio balance, remaining longevity, and expected portfolio returns.
Diversification Works In A Crisis (But It Doesn’t Work Miracles)
There are a lot of myths about diversification. Today, I want to address a pernicious lie floating around out there that diversification only works when times are good.
How Does Diversification Actually Work?
Diversification is a good thing. Nearly everyone agrees that it’s just about the only free lunch in finance.
But not many people stop and think about how diversification actually helps them, beyond the general “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” argument.
A Simple Way To Keep Your Portfolio In Line
Investing isn’t simply picking the best funds or building your perfect portfolio. Keeping your portfolio in line over the long term is just as important (if not more so).
When Tax-Loss Harvesting Makes Sense (And When It Doesn’t)
Tax-loss harvesting, when done right, is the equivalent of turning your financial lemons into lemonade, by converting your market losses into tax savings. Successful tax-loss harvesting lowers your taxes without substantially impacting your long-term investment outcomes.
Floor And Ceiling Retirement Spending, With A Twist
In a 2013 article, a Vanguard research team headed by Colleen Jaconetti developed an alternative form of the floor-and-ceiling spending rule that relies on percentages rather than hard dollar amounts.
A Terrible Way To Protect A Retiree From Inflation
People seem to think commodities (especially gold) are suitable guards against inflation. I want to explain why that’s not true, and tell you about some of the much better tools available.
I want to explain why that’s not true – at least over any useful time frame – and then tell you about some of the much better tools available.
The Art of Asset Location
You’ve probably heard a realtor tell you that the 3 most important factors in a property’s value are location, location, and location. There’s a similar rule for investments: asset location. Where your assets are located within your portfolio matters.
