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Planning For The Future – What About Bond Yields?
Adjustments for Current Bond Yields An important consideration is that current interest rates are lower than the historical averages. The historical average return is not relevant for someone seeking to estimate future market returns from today’s starting point. The general problem with attempting to gain insights from the historical outcomes is that future market returns…
Read MoreMaking 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…
Read MoreHow Much Can Retirees Spend On March 11, 2020? It May Not Be What You Think
Turbulent market volatility and declining interest rates are leaving many people wondering about the viability of their retirement plans. Given where markets are today, will you have enough to meet your retirement spending goals? Attention often turns to the 4% rule, which is a simple rule-of-thumb to guide retirement spending. It is the highest withdrawal…
Read MoreThe 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 investments from the disruptions that the Coronavirus may cause? We’ve already seen significant…
Read MoreRISA™ Update
Hello everyone, I wanted to provide a quick update on where we are on the Retirement Income Style Awareness ™ (RISA) investigation. There was a pause in the action after the deadline because I took my summer break and we moved our offices in Virginia- we are still in McLean (only a mile from our…
Read MoreThe 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 a half. Rather than dissect what’s caused these drops (and annoy one half…
Read MoreAre 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.
Read MoreWhat 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.
Read MoreOccam’s – “How Does the Situation in Greece Affect Me?”
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 management landscape. This newsletter will…
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