Facebook and Twitter shares both cratered this week. It may be time to ask yourself, as I did here on January 17, 2018, are you ready for when the stock market crashes? When the stock market crashes, there will have been plenty of opportunities for you to prepare for it. But that’s easier said than done. Because to do so you need to go against the grain. For example, bond investors are getting a blast of Arctic air as interest rates march higher. Prices are down. But does that mean it’s time to sell? No. The key to weathering this bond chill is to remember why you own bonds in the … [Read more...]
Fidelity Remembers William Byrnes
Though I did not know Mr. Byrnes personally, I did know he was a highly revered gentleman throughout the halls of Fidelity and the investment community he nurtured. Fidelity remembered Mr. Byrnes here: BOSTON — The Fidelity Investments family is deeply saddened to announce the passing of William Leo (Bill) Byrnes, its former president and vice chairman, and one of the company's key leaders as it grew from a Boston-based mutual fund company into a highly diversified global firm. Bill, 96, died peacefully on July 21st surrounded by his loving family. Our hearts go out to the Byrnes family and … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: Seeking Higher Yields?
You can thank low interest rates for the temptation to seek higher returns. Don’t think for a minute that risk/reward no longer applies to you. Like gravity, it’s always there, even if you can’t see it. Unfortunately it’s never fair when those with good intentions get burned. But it happens all the time. In The Wall Street Journal, Jean Eaglesham reports on a scam that duped investors for $100 million. She writes: Scott Kohn, a 64-year-old felon, ran a company from a Nevada strip-mall mailbox that investors claim took them for more than $100 million in losses. Mr. Kohn’s company, Future … [Read more...]
Beware the Coming 401(k) Annuity Storm
Congress is trying to pass new rules on 401(k)s. There are some good reforms in the current legislation, but one glaring red alert is the increased role of annuities planned for 401(k) accounts in the bill. Annuities can be fee-sucking, performance killing traps enriching the companies that sell them, rather than the customers who buy them. Anne Tergesen reports on some of the drawbacks of annuities: Annuities aren’t often used in 401(k) plans, in part because employers worry that if they pick an insurance company that ends up going bust, the 401(k) participants will sue the … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: The International Tennis Hall of Fame
There’s a couple of ways to get in to the International Tennis Hall of Fame: Dedicate your life to the sport and realize incredible success or, cross Bellevue Avenue from my office and enter the historic complex by foot. This week, as is tradition following Wimbledon, competitors are in town for the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open. It’s a wonderful time to be in Newport for players and fans alike as both mingle about town enjoying what Newport has to offer. If you’re a tennis fan and have questions about your investments, swing by for some coffee before heading across the street for the … [Read more...]
Pensions are Still Hiding from the Truth
You can never save too much of your own money. As I wrote here on January 22, 2018, the pension funds many Americans are depending on are gambling with their money. For years I've been writing about how badly pension funds have been ignoring reality when it comes to return expectation (read a sample of these posts here, here, and here). Funds have a choice to make when they set their return expectations, they can: Shoot low, and require governments or companies to put more funding aside to fund the pensions, or Shoot high and gamble on having strong enough returns to make up for … [Read more...]
The Problem With Mutual Funds Today
One of the problems facing long-term, patient investors using mutual funds and ETFs is that many of their fellow investors are traders. It’s why we favor individual stocks where you call the shots. Asjylyn Loder reports in The Wall Street Journal on the volatile nature of fund flows, writing: BlackRock said Monday it received $20 billion in net inflows in the second quarter. While the sum is enormous, it was down from more than $100 billion a year ago. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and a bellwether of low-cost index-based investing. BlackRock isn’t alone: For the first six … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: 1972 DeTomaso Pantera, A Coyote in Wolf’s Clothing
Here’s a wonderful story about my friend Marty Quadland and the rebirth of his 1972 DeTomaso Pantera: “A Coyote in Wolf’s Clothing,” featured this month in Hot Rod: Following retirement, Quadland realized a dream of his and moved west to the mountains of Wyoming. In preparation, he downsized considerably, selling his SCCA race cars, several motorcycles, and a late-model exotic, and, for the first time, he considered selling the Pantera. His son intervened, however. “I saw the look on my son’s face when I told him I might sell it,” he recalls. “He thought the Pantera would be his someday. I … [Read more...]
Cryptocosm and Life After Google
My appreciation for Andy Kessler’s way of thinking began with Wall Street Meat and Running Money. A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Cato 200 gathering in Laguna Beach, CA. I continue to keep up with him through his commentary at the WSJ where, in this piece, he shares some thoughts from another great mind, futurist George Gilder: My friend the futurist George Gilder outlines a theory in “Life After Google,” his forthcoming book. He suggests that while advertising prices might be correct, the free-service model cannot deliver sustainable growth. Mr. Gilder explains … [Read more...]
Tax Cuts to Improve Your Retirement Portfolio
President Trump has a golden opportunity for a second round of tax cuts by indexing capital gains for inflation. I can’t tell you how many times investors have wanted to make their portfolio more conservative but did not because of onerous capital gains. In other words, they kept more money in stocks, against their more prudent instincts, simply to avoid cap gains. This is how serious money is lost as witnessed in the markets twice so far this century circa 2000 and 2008. Kimberley Strassel of the WSJ explains how Trump could cut taxes with the stroke of a pen: What if President Trump had the … [Read more...]
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