When you measure performance in your portfolio, are you getting the right picture? If you are like most investors, the answer is no. Here is what I wrote in December 2013 about how you should be measuring performance: Cycles and Investment Success Understanding cycles is vital to your long-term investment success. Most folk intuitively understand that the economy and the financial markets go through cycles. The economy expands and then it contracts, the stock market rises and falls, interest rates go up and they go down. Cycles just come with the territory in a free market economy, but … [Read more...]

Before you answer, remember that at least 50% of gunfighters end up dead. Are you the type of person who will dutifully grow your investment portfolio over the years by shepherding it in the right direction? Or will you risk it all in one high risk gunfight after another until your number is called? Consider what I wrote here, thirty years ago in December of 1988. It’s a comparison of some high-level shepherding vs. some inexperienced gun slinging. Do you know the two most powerful words in investing? If you’ve been with me through the years, you know the answer. But for all of my … [Read more...]

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...]

The China Household Finance Survey run by Gan Li at Chengdu’s Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, recently found that one fifth–that’s 20%–of Chinese homes do not have occupants. Instead these homes are owned as investments in what could be one of the world’s most distorted markets ever. Back in February of 2012, I wrote about China’s “ghost cities,” and the dangers of investing in a command economy. Government subsidies, capital controls, and excessive regulations distort the Chinese economy, making analysis of normal economic signals difficult. With Chinese shares … [Read more...]

The DJIA was up 545 points the day after midterms. The takeaway is that you should be comfortable with your portfolio on good days and bad. Think about where you live for example. Your home. Do you call your real estate broker when prices drop (see Zillow) for the month? Probably not. If you do, perhaps it’s a spec investment rather than a home to raise your family in. Consider your portfolio as you would your home or your family—it's something you nurture and allow to grow over your lifetime. Investing takes strength and conviction as do parenting and home-ownership. They're not for the … [Read more...]

Four years ago, I told readers the story of David L. Stone, the manager of Beacon Hill Fund. The point of my story then, as it is now, was to encourage investors like you to avoid speculation, and instead to be patient with your money. Use simple strategies you can stick to in good times and in bad. Here’s what I wrote then: As I write to you, I am listening to 1960s “Soul Station” by Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. It is an excellent remastered LP edition of the original on a stereo system that includes a Denon quartz lock turntable from the mid-’80s, a real basic … [Read more...]

Not a down year this century. Projected by Richard C. Young to advance again in 2018! How does your retirement portfolio look? Do you actually have any idea what you are doing? Do you feel like you are over your head and investing with a crap-shoot mentality? Are you subsisting on outmoded, far-too-big mutual funds or, worse yet, those ghastly oversized index funds? Are you a total neophyte on bond investing and pretty much devoid of understanding the miracle of interest, patience, and compounding? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, you may require a whole new … [Read more...]

On Wall Street, traders and speculators are closing their doors. The Wall Street Journal’s Rachael Levy recently reported: Boston-based hedge fund Frontlight Capital LP is shutting after fewer than three years in operation, people familiar with the matter said. Four other hedge funds earlier this month announced they were closing, as investors re-evaluate a once-highflying industry plagued by weak returns. Through September of this year, Frontlight’s fund, Frontlight Enhanced Macro Master Fund I, LP, lost 4.17%, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The fund lost … [Read more...]

Investing is all about attitude. Are you too eager to take on risk in good times? Too ready to cut and run in bad? Can’t commit to an investing plan? Don’t have the resolve to stick to a sustainable withdrawal rate? In early 1999 I talked with the former American League MVP, Boog Powell about attitude. I wrote this that May: I was talking to Baltimore Oriole baseball legend Boog Powell recently. During the baseball season, Boog runs Boog’s Barbecue at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Off-season, he is in Key West occasionally as “guest” barbecue celeb at his high-school buddy’s local spot. Boog … [Read more...]

You may have noticed stocks are acting a little funny lately. Whether it’s scary October, midterms, or earnings, there’s always something to worry about. I’ll tell you, the phones have been real busy here with our Maximizers inquiries, but otherwise pretty quiet from clients. Many are packing up for Florida, travelling in Paris, or enjoying the outdoors. For example, I received a picture emailed from my client at his fishing cabin in Alaska enjoying some freshly caught crabs, writing: “All retirement benefits are not in dollars. Thanks for the help making this happen. I’m the one … [Read more...]