Real quick. You’re interested in hiring a financial advisor—one who’s held to a fiduciary standard by law, not some silly suitability one. You know you need help, but you just can’t make it happen because there’s resistance: No time, no real interest in digging into it, or you don’t know enough to explain to a loved one why you need it. “We’re fine, aren’t we?” She might ask. OK, here are summaries of two calls I had yesterday with prospective clients that will help you gain some perspective. The first one was with a prospective client whom was referred to me by a client I’ve been … [Read more...]

You know how I feel about keeping what you’ve made and perhaps working a side hustle. You Owe it to Yourself to Continue Doing What You’re Good At Keep Working, if You Can How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Some Just Won’t Stop How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?: Today’s Elderly Twice as Likely to Work than in 1985 Your Retirement Life: You Can Keep Working These Americans Are Never Going to Retire You also know the benefits of working with someone who can be unemotional about your money. The entire country is emotional today. My RAGE Gauge, which measures … [Read more...]

Is your broker making money lending out your cash? Because in times like these, banks are making money any which way they can. Thankfully Fidelity is not a bank. You can rest assure they’re not loaning out your cash. What are you sure about today? I’ll tell you what I know. First and foremost, we need to come to grips with low interest rates. This is more troubling than you think. When interest rates are this low, the average investor (not you, I hope) can’t sit still and just earn a couple percent. The average investor needs more. The average investor will think nothing of lending it … [Read more...]

“I’m a plodder,” a prospective client told me yesterday. “I like what you wrote last week, I read your stuff.” “Thank you,” I said. “Plodders are especially welcome in times like these.” In case you missed it, I wrote: Why You Should Listen to These Wise Men in Times Like These OCTOBER 30, 2020 BY E.J. SMITH - YOUR SURVIVAL GUY I recently received this message from a client: EJ, it was great talking to you yesterday. While doing a little reading last night I came across a quote I thought you might like. The Old Testament book of Proverbs was compiled by King Solomon who many … [Read more...]

In speaking with a prospective client over the last couple of weeks, I’m here to tell you, the key to his success is TIME. At 90 years old, he’s compounding big numbers. He’s been doing it for years. He credits my father-in-law’s Richard C. Young's Intelligence Report for his success. “It kept me on course,” he said. The reason we’re talking now (we also spoke five years ago) is that he lost his wife. He feels it’s time to make sure the portfolio is in good hands for his kids. “They don’t have a lot of interest in this stuff,” he said. “But they understand the Richard C. Young's Intelligence … [Read more...]

OK, we all know the real battle in your day begins when one of you asks, “Do we have anything to watch tonight?” Your palms sweat as dinner’s ready, and you have no idea what “you’re” going to watch. The last place you want to be is on the couch, dinner in front of you, toggling around tiles on your TV with not a clue what you’re looking for. I feel your pain. You can only watch the Crown so many times (I’m on our third loop around the empire). Unfortunately, investors get that exact sweaty palm feeling when they start punching in the ETF and mutual fund quotes on their computer to do a … [Read more...]

If you’re like most investors I speak with, you’ve put in your time. You’re in retirement or well along the road to planning for it. You’ve made sacrifices. You’ve put the kids through college or have saved enough to do so, and you feel like you’re over the hump. That’s a great feeling. It’s what you imagined that first time you sent a check in to invest. The idea that someday you’d be able to enjoy it. It’s a special moment. For many others, that moment may never come. That’s because, from my vantage point at least, investment advisers don’t spend enough time understanding why investors do … [Read more...]

“Well, writing to you now, five decades later, from our outside kitchen/living space in the heart of Old Town, Key West, I can’t help but think how much water has gone under the bridge through the many decades,” wrote Dick Young to you in the June 2017 issue of Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. “But if you have been with me over the years, you are keenly aware that it is indeed the combination of dividends, compound interest, perspective and patience that frames the message I deliver to you month after month. I do not change course. You can count on it.” Dick Continues: My Decades … [Read more...]

Are you falling for the oldest trick in the book? Here’s how it reads. Managers today draw you in with low-cost index funds and past performance—not necessarily in that order. Then, once you’re in the door, they sell you on other stuff, like toxic variable annuities, until you’re blue in the face. It’s hard not to fall for the sales pitch. I get it. Here’s what happens. It’s Sunday morning. You don’t have a care in the world. Frank Sinatra is playing in the background. Life is good. Then you peel open the quarterly funds report in the Journal and look at the performance like a box score … [Read more...]