The common theme I espouse to you here at Your Survival Guy is the elimination of risk and a focus on your margin of safety. Whether the risk be to your personal safety or to your financial portfolio, I want you to focus on preventing negative events from affecting you and your family. After 2008, some retirees and those who were planning to retire understood the dangers of market risk, and began insulating their portfolios against future shocks. They spread out their investments among different asset classes, buying counterbalancers to smooth any market swings. They also began focusing … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2018
Even Your Broker Knows this is a Conflict of Interest
The brokerage industry seems incapable of looking out for their clients’ best interests. If it isn’t dumping the most recently issued IPO on investors, it is encouraging clients to go further into debt. According to the WSJ, some 15,000 financial advisors at Merrill have complained to management about a pay structure that encourages customers to take on more debt. If your money is still at one of the big brokerage firms, isn’t it time you made a change to a financial advisor who will look out for you best interest? Boutique fee-only investment counsel firms are held to a fiduciary … [Read more...]
Fidelity Investments: Why it’s #1
You don’t build a company such as Fidelity Investments, with more than $2 trillion in assets, overnight. It takes constant focus and improvement, day by day, or kaizen—a Japanese philosophy of daily improvement espoused by former chairman Edward C. “Ned” Johnson III. When I worked at Fidelity, back in the mid-90s, Mr. Johnson encouraged us, through his memos, to apply the philosophy of kaizen to all aspects of our lives. Mr. Johnson paid particular attention to kaizen as it related to the firm’s investment in technology. He wanted to make sure Fidelity was second to none. That … [Read more...]
Suppliers Suffer When Apple Clouds iPhone Orders in Mystery
With little information to go on regarding future iPhone sales, and possibly canceled orders from Apple impacting business, iPhone suppliers are being trashed in markets. Yoko Kubota, Takashi Mochizuki and Tripp Mickle write for The Wall Street Journal: Lower-than-expected demand for Apple Inc.’s AAPL -2.77% new iPhones and the company’s decision to offer more models have created turmoil along its supply chain and made it harder to predict the number of components and handsets it needs, people familiar with the situation say. In recent weeks, Apple slashed production orders for all three … [Read more...]
Are You About to Retire Broke?
Most Americans are simply not saving enough. GOBankingRates released a survey this week showing that 42% of Americans will retire broke. Hopefully, that doesn’t include you, but even if you have been saving, it’s a good bet you could do more. In July 2014, I explained to readers why they should boost savings. Boost Your Savings The strategy implication of a low-return environment is that savings must play a greater role in your investment plan. The stock and bond markets aren’t going to bail you out. To secure a prosperous financial future, today’s low-return environment demands that … [Read more...]
This is What Can Happen When You Invest Without a Margin of Safety?
Nvidia, a member of the high-flying NYSE FANG+ index, reported third quarter results yesterday that missed estimates. The stock is down 19% this morning, and over 42% since October 1st. Why have the shares cratered? Earnings are up 32% over the last year and the outlook remains positive with Goldman saying Nvidia “has access to one of the best growth opportunity sets in semis.” The problem for Nvidia shareholders, in a word, was price. Early this year, Nvidia traded as high as 60X earnings. Investors buying shares at those levels were forgoing a necessary margin of safety. Without a … [Read more...]
Chinese Exiting U.S. Real Estate Market?
One thing that has propped up the U.S. real estate market since the financial crisis has been the willingness of foreign buyers, especially Chinese buyers, to purchase land and buildings in America. That trend could be reversing itself, however. Esther Fung reports in The Wall Street Journal: Chinese companies spent tens of billions of dollars on U.S. real estate in the years following the financial crisis, snapping up high-profile properties like the Waldorf Astoria and Baccarat Hotel in New York. But in the second quarter Chinese investors turned net sellers of U.S. real estate for the … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Is Owning a Second Home a Good Idea?
Should you buy a second home? Take a look back at this piece I wrote on October 17, 2018 for some insight into whether or not you should invest in another house. One of the sticky parts about owning a second home is property taxes. You can't escape them. Even my favored "live free or die," New Hampshire, by example, has the third highest property taxes in the country. California, perhaps surprisingly, has a much lower rate, coming in at #34. But, the median price of a home in California far exceeds that of New Hampshire. My advice to anyone considering a second home is to rent first or to … [Read more...]
Here’s why Diversification is Vital
The wildfires currently raging in California have decimated thousands of acres of land, including homes and businesses. Around 100 people are still considered missing. That is simply a catastrophe, and at Young Research & Publishing we thank the first responders trying to stop the blaze, and hope the missing are reunited with their families soon. Possibly to blame for the fires is PG&E, the power utility for much of California. The utility reported a power outage in the area shortly before the outbreak of the fire known as the Camp fire (there are multiple major blazes occurring … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: College Towns
In isolated rural areas, college towns can be an oasis of culture. Restaurants, food, events, and more come to college towns thanks to the concentration of young people willing to spend their money on such fare. College towns can be a boon for more than students, though. Retirees can often find themselves comfortably at home in college towns located in states where their money is treated well. In areas with low taxes and low costs of living, a great retirement can be had with access to the sports events, entertainment, and cultural amenities offered by college towns. At US News & … [Read more...]
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