Just when you think Vanguard might see the light and get back to its roots, it shows once again why it has become too big and is just like any other money-sucking behemoth--like BlackRock. Vanguard has proven this with the introduction of its own ESG investments program. In my series “You Invest, They Win,” I prove that you are not necessarily front and center, as you most certainly should be when it comes to how your money is invested. This is especially true with the new, hot, investment flavor-of-the-month, ESG. What is an ESG? It’s a marketing tool hoping to get you to feel good about … [Read more...]

You know how hard it is to talk about money. That’s why I want you to blame Your Survival Guy when you bring up the subject with your spouse. That’s why I’m here, to help you both beat inertia and take care of your financial well-being. One easy way to do this is to start by saying, this Survival Guy feels that simply discussing money will help get us to the retirement we deserve. Use me as the ice breaker: “He says…” Grant Donnelly, assistant professor of marketing at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, can back me up with research. He's quoted in the Wall Street Journal, … [Read more...]

You could be suffering right now from the Dunning Kruger effect and not even know it. Worst of all, it may be affecting your stock portfolio's performance. If you are one of the recently arrived "Robinhood" investors and think you have cracked the market code, you may, in fact, be suffering from the Dunning Kruger effect. The syndrome is named after Justin Kruger and David Dunning, who outlined it in their 1999 paper in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The authors introduced their paper by describing the effect: People tend to hold overly favorable views of their … [Read more...]

Let’s run some numbers, shall we? If you’re making twenty-five grand working part-time, how much will you need to invest to match it with a three-percent draw rate? The answer is just over eight hundred thousand dollars. Puts some perspective on how much your time is worth doesn’t it? The more you want to draw, the more you'll need to save. My number one piece of advice for anyone considering retirement is simply this: don’t. You have incredible worth in times like these with interest rates nailed to the floor and assets inflated. The task of investing for retirement … [Read more...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]

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...]