What To Do When Markets Plummet – Investor Behavior Gap
Another concern is whether investors are disciplined enough to stay the course with the investment strategy in order to earn the underlying index market returns. Studies on retirement spending from investment portfolios typically assume that retirees are rational investors who rebalance right on schedule each year to their rather aggressive stock allocations. They never panic […]
Making Your Investments Work For You: Things To Consider
Inflation We must remove inflation so the numbers allow for a better understanding of purchasing power growth. Real returns will be less because they preserve the purchasing power of wealth over time. Providing the discussion in terms of real returns allows us to plan for the assumption that future spending will grow with inflation. Even […]
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 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.
Two Philosophies for Retirement Income Planning Part One: Probability-Based
Within the world of retirement income planning, the siloed nature of financial services between investments and insurance leads to two opposing philosophies about how to build a retirement plan. There is an old saying that if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail. This tendency is […]
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.
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 perfect, and there are certainly some things to consider when you use them […]
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 explanations for a given event. This concept is largely ignored within the investment […]
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 supposed to be signs the world crashing down on our ears. But, well, the world is […]
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 (company gets sued, senior executive leaves, “next big thing” flops, etc.) and take […]
