The best way to improve your retirement's financial picture is to keep on working if you can. Reshma Kapadla writes at Barron's: RESIST RETIRING PREMATURELY Given the health risks created by the pandemic and uncertain outlook for certain industries, early retirement may seem like an attractive option. But advisors recommend that those who are five to 10 years away from retirement should stay in the workforce, if possible. “The best way to improve retirement financial outcomes is to work longer,” says Jamie Hopkins, director of retirement research at Carson Group. “A year or two before … [Read more...]
EJ-When I Read Your Piece: “You Want Maine Lobster”
EJ- When I read your piece “You Want Maine Lobster” it brought back memories of my days of frequent trips to the Boston area. My biggest customer at the time (1971-1978 or so) was Air Force Systems Command at Hanscom AFB. I was there probably two times a month for several years, sometimes staying over a weekend if we were negotiating a contract or other lengthy meetings. We almost always had one dinner at a roadside restaurant along a dark rural stretch of some road, possibly 2A. I don't remember the name of the place, but I always got a chicken lobster, fries and a beer or two. I think … [Read more...]
Yes, You’ve Met Ronald Read in Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report
You may be familiar with Ronald Read’s story. It’s a story worth telling over and over and over again to anyone you know. My father in law Dick Young wrote in May 2015: Hard to even comprehend, but this great story, courtesy the WSJ‘s Anna Prior, recounts how Ronald Read accumulated an estate valued at almost $8 million. Mr. Read, who passed away at the age of 92, made a modest living pumping gas for many years at a Gulf gas station in Brattleboro, Vermont. A Five-Inch Stack of Stock Certificates How did Ronald Read manage to become a multi-millionaire? Mr. Read invested in dividend-paying … [Read more...]
I Would Love to Talk with You
If you’ve been with me during this crisis, then chances are your investments are in good shape. I can’t guarantee it, but I can guarantee you’re smiling inside when someone asks how your portfolio is doing. We all know the guy who tells you he sold at the top and waited out the bottom. That guy, however, still has to figure out when to get back in (if he was ever in, to begin with). As far as I’m concerned, he would have been better off collecting dividends and reinvesting them at lower prices and perhaps picking up some cheap, high-income bonds. It’s because of times like these that you’re … [Read more...]
California Pensions are Dreamin’
You really can’t make this up. Rather than admitting that they've spent years making the wrong assumptions, and underfunding the pensions of California public workers, CalPERS pension fund managers seem hell-bent on driving the fund off a cliff to save their jobs. In the Wall Street Journal, Ben Meng, chief investment officer of Calpers, does his best to explain why the fund is taking on a load of leverage to fund its overpromised goals. He writes: Yet even before the pandemic, we knew that our goal of achieving a risk-adjusted return of 7% would require addressing the market’s triple … [Read more...]
Close to One-Third of Investors Over 65 Moved to Cash
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LVIII How are you doing this morning? Hopefully, you’re not too shell shocked. If you are, then you’re not alone. A study by Fidelity Investments finds that close to one-third of investors over the age of 65 sold their stocks during the coronavirus meltdown reports The WSJ. Like a broken record, money managers tsk, tsk, tsk the sellers saying “hold your stocks for the long-term.” Well, that’s fine and good if you’re in your thirties, but a bit more difficult when you’re over 65. A prospective client wants to consolidate her assets with us mainly … [Read more...]
You Need to Seek Some Shelter for When Things Get Ugly
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LVI “Requests for driving directions on Apple Inc.’s Maps app are back around mid January levels, while data from Dutch location technology firm TomTom International BV show traffic congestion gradually climbing in some late U.S. cities, though it is still down substantially from March levels in many,” reports the WSJ. But after this weekend’s riots, who is in a rush to visit a city? The future of the city is on the rocks. Blue state governors and mayors have gone wild. They’re a fiscal mess. Consider the self-inflicted wreckage of mismanaged … [Read more...]
There Are No Second Chances at Retirement
There are no second chances at living a full and happy retirement. You enter retirement only with what you bring with you, and you leave behind whatever remains. You don’t get another try, but there is a way to make your investment plan pay you to retire. The only catch is, many of you will have to make a 180° degree change in how you approach retirement. Here’s how I explain my plan: You Need to Make a 180° Switch in Your Approach to Common Stock Investing In the past you have probably looked on common stock investing as a program of (1) buying a stock and (2) selling it to someone else … [Read more...]
Breaking News: Why Fidelity is #1
You now have yet another reason to consolidate your assets with my favored Fidelity Investments: Fidelity takes protecting your most valuable financial information seriously. Yesterday, it was announced that Fidelity is spinning off software start-up Akoya, a platform that gives customers more control over how their bank-account information is shared. Without a service like Akoya, apps can scrape your account gaining access to information you may wish to keep private. “The platform,” explains Justin Baer in the WSJ, “aims to put an end to ‘screen scraping,’ the process where the app … [Read more...]
The Big Winners When You Faithfully Give to a Cause (Retirement)
If you didn’t read about the massive fund controlled by the Mormon Church, you will. With 16,000 plus members tithing 10% of their earnings, the fund has amassed a $100 billion fortune—a cash-generating behemoth that would make Warren Buffett blush. Roger Clarke, the head of the investment fund Ensign Peak that controls the church’s money, used to be a professor at Brigham Young University, reports Ian Lovett and Rachael Levy for the WSJ. He was running an investment firm in Los Angeles when he got the call. “It certainly wasn’t the most attractive financial office,” Mr. Clarke said. “But … [Read more...]
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