Posts on ways to reduce investment risk, how to hire a wealth manager or financial advisor, wealth building steps, startup investing, small business investing, advanced investment strategies, alternative investing strategies to build wealth and make living off investments possible after retirement.
Have you ever learned the same lesson more than once? I sure have. So some of the financial lessons below are reminders, repeats, or the otherwise ongoing learning that comes from taking care of money. These lessons are sort of all over the place, but that makes sense because there are endless facets to …
Bear markets are especially hard during retirement. The data supports that if a bear market occurs shortly before or after retirement a typical retirement plan can be blown. This is referred to as Sequence of Return Risk and it proves how detrimental a bear market can be near retirement. In this article I’ll share: …
It used to be you could search for a financial coach online and you’d find a page with numerous independent financial coaches. Then a funny thing happened. People and businesses discovered that services could be sold to people who were seeking financial coaches online because they either had money, or they were taking actions that …
It can be confusing to know the difference between the services provided by various financial experts. In general, the services provided by those referred to as financial advisors are for investing client’s money. Financial coach services can be much more diverse, however. As a financial coach myself, in this post I’ll share: Services that financial …
Do you worry about losing your money? If so, this isn’t necessarily all bad; worry can prompt you to make smart moves that lower investment risk when needed. The following steps can all help reduce investment risk: increase the percentage of portfolio cash, diversify asset classes, buy undervalued assets, own noncorrelated investments, manage bond risk, …
11 Ways to Reduce Investment Risk While Building Wealth Read More »
The terms for investment coach, financial coach, and financial advisor can be confusing. What is an investment coach exactly? An investment coach is someone who helps others invest. On the other hand, general financial coaches can help with a variety of financial topics, including debt management, while the term financial advisor usually refers to someone …
Wealth is determined differently by different people but from a financial perspective, people often ask: Does net worth determine wealth? Research shows that while net worth specifically doesn’t determine wealth for most people, having enough money to do many of the things that do determine wealth requires financial assets. Net worth measures the amount of …
Deciding how much of your net worth to keep in cash is a huge part of managing risk while building wealth, as well as contributing to a peaceful existence as an investor. The simple formula to figure how much of your net worth should be in cash is the amount you need to cover all …
How Much Of My Net Worth Should Be in Cash (Liquid Net Worth, Cash Percentage) Read More »
Asset allocation refers to the percentages of investment capital put into the various types of investments. The goal with asset allocation is to achieve maximum return within an acceptable amount of risk. There are four major types of asset allocation: Constant weight asset allocation, strategic asset allocation, dynamic asset allocation, and tactical asset allocation. In …
The word is getting out about asset rotation investing after decades of popular buy and hold investing. What is asset rotation exactly? Asset rotation investing rotates into asset classes that are increasing in price and out of assets that are decreasing in price. Rotation timing is often based on technical factors for the asset classes. …
What has been the best investment over the past 10 years? The best investment over the past 10 years was large cap U.S. stocks. The benchmark used to represent large U.S. stocks in this investing quilt was the S&P 500 index. The annual return for the past 10 years was an average of 8.81%. Apple, …
The All Weather Portfolio is has performed well during certain times in the past. By the end of this post, however, you’ll know why the All Weather Portfolio might work well for the extremely wealthy Dalio family for whom it was designed, and why it may not work so well for investors like you and …
All Weather Portfolio Pros and Cons | ETFs | Performance | Chart | Videos Read More »
Are you searching for an advanced investing course? An advanced investing course should cover the different methods that can be used by investors, not just go deep into one method. It should also emphasize what drives returns and how to manage risk. The instructor should be unbiased and experienced in various investing strategies in different …
There are two major reasons you invest; for cash flow or for capital gains. What’s the difference between cash flow and capital gains investing? Cash flow investing buys assets that generate income while capital gains investing buys assets with the expectation they will increase in value. There are some important nuances with both cash …
Difference Between Cash Flow and Capital Gains with Chart Read More »
The closer you get to retirement, the more important it becomes to avoid nasty, major stock market moves down, and capture those lucrative stock market moves up. This fuels the drive for investors to know if the stock market will go up or down over the next few years with a higher degree of likelihood. …
How to Know If the Stock Market Will Go Up or Down Read More »
When feeling uncertain or overwhelmed about managing your investments, you may consider hiring a financial advisor. In this post I’ll share what I learned about the pros and cons of using a financial advisor after having hired and worked with multiple financial advisors over the years. The pros of using a financial advisor are …
Pros and Cons of Using a Financial Advisor (with Cost Charts vs DIY) Read More »
Selling in the money covered calls can be an excellent income generating strategy for stock investors trying to live off investment income. An in the money covered call strategy involves selling a call option with a strike price lower than the market value of the underlying stock. This strategy is commonly used when the call writer …
In the Money Covered Call Strategy | Benefits and Examples Read More »
It can be challenging to choose the best opportunity to maximize your valuable time and capital. Is it better to start a business or invest in stocks? For the amount of capital required, starting a business has high income and capital gain potential yet requires far more time from the owner; investing in stocks has …
Start a Business or Invest in Stocks: Which Is Better? Read More »
Investing within acceptable risk is one of the most important things we can do as investors. Occasional bear stock markets challenge even advanced stock market investors when it comes to managing risk. After investing through several bear markets over the past 40 years, I’ve learned that one of the best ways to lower stock …
What Goes Up When Stocks Go Down? 7 Hedging Assets Read More »
This post is an honest Allocate Smartly review which I’m writing after three years of using Allocate Smartly for investing several of our portfolios. What is Allocate Smartly exactly? Allocate Smartly provides information to analyze investment strategies along with the tools to help investors implement those strategies in their own portfolios. If you’ve been …
Many investors end up with a huge position in just one stock. This is a “good problem” that often happens with older investors, in particular. Is It Bad to Hold One Stock for a Long Time? It’s risky to have too much net worth tied up into one stock, period. It’s true that concentrated positions …
Many investors are faced with the question: is buy and hold investing the best strategy for me? Even though buy and hold investing is by far the most popular investing strategy, sometimes investors wonder if it truly is the best strategy for them. This question often arises after experiencing unusually high volatility, portfolio losses, or …
You may be wondering how to become an active investor vs being a buy and hold investor particularly in or near retirement. Being an active investor has both advantages and disadvantages over being a buy and hold investor for sure. Many active investors purchase traditional assets such as stocks and bonds, while other active investors …
You may be seeking more advanced investing YouTube channels amidst of vast sea of sea of investing YouTube channels, most of which are tailored to beginner investors at one end and traders at the other end. I’ll be sharing some of the channels from my very own short list of advanced investing YouTube channels to …
You may be wondering how to get control of your investments. It’s not uncommon to feel that your investments are out of control. Feeling out of control with your investing stems from two factors; risk that is inherent with investing itself, and order around your investments. The first reason investors feel out of control with …
We investors, that is, are almost always wrong collectively about which direction the stock market will go. Here’s the holiday looking colorful chart (compliments of AAII) to support my points below: The AAII (American Association of Individual Investors, that’s most of us reading this:) reported that those expecting a rise in stocks over the next …
Are Individual Investors Wrong Most of the Time? Read More »
Asset allocation can be the driver of investment returns as well as the primary risk management component in an investment portfolio. Its importance, therefore, cannot be overstated. The factors affecting asset allocation are investor age, net worth, liquid assets, emergency fund, time frame, financial goals, risk tolerance, alternative investments, and investment correlation. As you will …
Investors often wonder about the difference between strategic investment vs tactical investment strategies. Strategic investing is usually passive, or buy and hold, and follows a fixed asset allocation among different types of investments, while tactical investing makes investments in assets that appear to be better at any given time based on their return potential. What …
Asset allocation defines the percentages that are invested in various types of assets, like stocks or bonds. It is the foundation for traditional investing that seeks to lower risk through diversification. There are pros and cons to asset allocation. The pros are improved risk management, structure, past data availability, low implementation cost, alternative investment potential, …
This investor emotions chart outlines the 14 stages investors experience during stock market cycles. Investor emotions are real. Emotions affect our actions, often negatively, which hurts our ability to have enough money to retire comfortably when we want. That’s a big price to pay for something that can be remedied, so let’s do that. It’s …
Covered calls can be an excellent way to generate extra income from stocks but they don’t always go exactly as planned. Fortunately, covered calls can be rolled when the underlying stock moves in an unexpected or unfavorable way. If you’re wondering how to roll covered calls, it’s relatively simple. To roll covered calls you buy …
Most people think of wealth as being made only from investing in the stock market. While many investors do successfully grow a stock portfolio over time, you’ll find that most high net worth investors make wealth in other ways. Wealth is commonly made from significant income increases, company bonuses, increases in the value of assets …
It can be impossible to know who to listen to amongst the many past and present investment experts, most with varying opinions. Investment performance, however, reveals the truth, as you’ll see in this post. Almost anyone following the stock market news has heard of Cathie Wood. She’s become one of the more prominent …
Last week as I picked an abundant fig harvest, I couldn’t help but think about how much my fig harvest parallels the wealth building fundamentals I’ve learned (many the hard way!) from investing in dozens of different assets and strategies over the past few decades as a personal investor. These wealth building fundamentals are …
Wealth Building Fundamentals Inspired by My Abundant Fig Harvest Read More »
It’s often said that managing risk is as important as getting good investment returns. Ownership of defensive investments can offset potential losses from other investments while smoothing out returns. Treasury bonds, T bills, gold, money market funds, put options, TIPS, and inverse ETF’s are all examples of defensive investments. These are all assets that tend …
Does everything you need to know about investing really fit onto one side of a cocktail napkin as touted by more than one wildly famous financial author? Well, the answer depends on: Your personal wealth plan How long you have to save and invest Your net worth How much money you need to retire …
Beginner To Advanced Investing Strategies | What’s Best for You? Read More »
Creative income streams have been the saving grace for my family. I think they can be for millions of retirees willing to think and act outside the box. In this post I’ll share what I’ve learned after testing and implementing over 15 creative income streams from investing, consulting, online business and real estate along with my husband. …
There are simple ways to make money when stocks drop using more traditional investing methods and there are also more advanced strategies to make money when stocks drop. In this post, I will cover simple to slightly advanced strategies that both investors and many wealth managers use to make money in down markets for their …
The simplest and only sure way to avoid losing money in the stock market is to not own stocks. Stocks, however, can be a profitable passive investment for busy investors who understand stock market losses, are aware of stock market cycles and have chosen how much stock market risk they want. That’s what this post …
Stock market returns by decade are often used as markers for measuring past performance and estimating future performance more reliably for retirement planning purposes. And we all know that stock market gains can be excellent passive wealth builders in most decades, so let’s see what happened last decade, and how can we use that data …
Stock Market Return 2010 through 2019 and Why You Care Read More »
Wealth building and income generation are the two primary investment objectives. As such, these factors are the starting point for selecting investments. Is it better to focus on wealth building vs. income as a primary objective? Wealth building is typically the main objective until enough wealth has been accumulated to provide for a comfortable retirement. …
No one wants to run out of cash. By cash, I mean that super safe stash you keep in a money market account that won’t fluctuate in value the way stocks do. But just how much should you keep in a money market account? It depends on some personal things like your investments, portfolio allocation, dependents, …
How Much to Keep in Money Market Accounts | 15 Factors Read More »
Consistently saving money and investing it in stocks and bonds builds wealth over many years. The problem is that this strategy usually takes at least two decades, and most people don’t begin this discipline until it’s too late to save enough to retire comfortably. Alternative wealth solutions exist, however, for anyone willing to think and invest outside the …
Bear markets are a fact of life for stock market investors but they don’t have to be detrimental to your net worth. After investing through several bear markets, both alone and with financial advisors, I’ll share how to prepare for bear markets. While I’m an AFC® (Accredited Financial Counselor), I write from my own investing experience of 40 …
How to Prepare for Bear Markets | 11 Steps [Video, Chart] Read More »
Many investors have concerns about passive investing in stocks and bonds based on standard asset allocation models. Or maybe they have seen that passive investing won’t get the results they need to reach their financial goals. Many investors turn to more advanced investment strategies in an effort to increase returns without increasing risk. Popular …
Advanced Investment Strategies (You Won’t Hear from Your Advisor) | Video Read More »
Managing risk in the stock market becomes more important as you get older. We all learned this from the challenging 2000 decade when the stock market (S&P 500 index) had an annualized negative return of 2.72% (excluding dividends) for the entire 2000 decade! If you’re wondering how to manage risk in the stock market, investing …
For those planning to retire soon, retirement can feel scary from both a financial and a lifestyle perspective. Fear of retirement boredom is a very legitimate reality, especially for certain personalities. Here are 7 ways to address that subtle and almost embarrassing fear that you could be bored to tears in retirement. Read my own …
Every time I hear a retiree confidently tell me that they are invested in “safe stocks” so they’re not concerned about a bear market, I silently shudder. Are stocks safe for retirement? It all depends on your risk tolerance, net worth, stock market valuations and other factors explained below. After investing for almost 40 years …
Are Stocks Safe for Retirement? 8 Important Factors Read More »
If you’re concerned that investing in traditional stocks and bonds with a common asset allocation won’t provide a comfortable retirement for life, you’re not alone. We had those same concerns over a decade ago, along with millions of other investors over 50, and here’s what we discovered: Alternative retirement investment strategies can result in higher …
12 “Slightly” Alternative Retirement Investment Strategies Read More »
Updated May 6, 2020 At the end of the strong bull market of the 1990’s, a few brave financial experts predicted the next decade would not be a good one for stock investors. What will stocks do over the next 10 years? Ray Dalio, Warren Buffett, Rob Arnott, Liz Ann Sonders and John Bogle have told us what …
After surviving a few bear markets over the past 40 years as an investor, I’ve learned many financial lessons from them. Reducing risk in stocks before bear markets take full hold helps investors protect their net worth as well as have capital to invest in stocks again once unusually low valuations are reached. This sounds almost too obvious to write, but most …
Reducing Risk in Stocks | 13 Lessons from Past Bear Markets Read More »
You may have noticed that you’ve gotten both capital gains and dividends from investing. Or maybe you’re trying to decide if you should focus on dividends vs capital gains in selecting investments, leading you to wonder: Are dividends or capital gains better? Dividends are better for investors seeking income as a primary objective …
Toward the end of bull markets, it’s smart to see what stocks went up in past bear markets for recession proof investment ideas. While there have been some short and minor bear markets since 2008, the severe 2008 bear market continues to provide excellent data and investing lessons for everyone. Stocks that went up in …
Stocks That Went Up in 2008 | Plus ETFs, Bonds, Gold Read More »
If your net worth isn’t where you want it to be, you may be wondering how you can build wealth in a way that won’t take decades. The best assets to build wealth fall into two categories, almost all quality assets that can be bought at low valuations, and assets that can be created. After …
Best Assets to Build Wealth | Charts, Videos, Calculator Read More »
If you’re approaching retirement, that anticipated time when you can live off investments or at least work fewer hours own your schedule, you’re probably transitioning to income investing. You may be wondering how to buy assets that generate income. The way you buy income generating assets depends on the type of asset you’re buying. For example, …
Covered calls can be an excellent way to increase income from stocks but like all investments, covered calls aren’t perfect. The problems with covered calls include stock market risk, company specific risk, high required capital, forfeiting of potential capital gains, taxes on call income, and ongoing management of unexercised options. It is my belief, however, …
In this time of low dividend yields, increasing stock income by selling call options on stocks you already own sounds pretty appealing to yield hungry investors. Are covered calls a good strategy? Covered calls can be an excellent income strategy for stock investors willing to forego capital gains above the strike price should the call …
The more income streams you have the better, right? This is not necessarily true. How many income streams should you have? It have depends on your goals, available time, types of income streams, available capital, taxes, demonstrated success, income reliability, and desired lifestyle. In this post I’ll share what I’ve learned in each of these …
How Many Income Streams Should You Have? [Videos] Read More »
Most advice for how to increase net worth is geared toward investors with decades to save and compound wealth in the stock market. If you’re an investor over 50, it could be too late for that strategy before retirement. But you can increase net worth by taking advantage of cycles in stocks or real estate, …
How to Increase Net Worth Before Retirement [Videos] Read More »
Updated August 8, 2019 Investing in bonds definitely has risks, contrary to what many investors think. Just what are the risk of bond investments? They include interest rate risk, default risk, inflation risk, call risk and economic risk. The fact that bonds are used to offset risk from stocks, and the very long bull market …
What Are the Risks of Bonds? Chart Stocks Vs Bonds Read More »
Income investing comes with both risks and rewards, just like all investments. The risks of income investing in bonds includes interest rate risk, default risk, inflation risk and more. And for stock income investors, there is bear market risk and political risk. Both bond and stock income investors face company or entity specific risk and …
You may be wondering how to know if stocks will go up or go down so you can invest with greater certainty about the overall direction of stocks. In general, stocks go up when earnings are increasing or expected to increase, and stocks go down when earnings decrease or are expected to decrease. Other factors …
If you’re playing catch up retirement savings, here are 59 wealth building tips and solutions that can radically change late retirement planning. After personally making thousands of investments among stocks, bonds, funds, and real estate, both with and without financial advisors over the past 40 years, and creating alternative income streams to replace career income …
Playing Catch Up Retirement Savings | 59 Uncommon Solutions [With Videos] Read More »
Updated Nov 5, 2021 Are you considering a new investment or evaluating investments that you already own? The foundation for evaluating an investment begins with simple and practical assessments that relate to your personal financial goals. To evaluate an investment, the following criteria should be met in alignment with a defined overall investment plan: acceptable …
If you’re thinking of hiring a financial advisor, you may be wondering what unexpected problems you might face after you start working with him. Research shows some of the more common unforeseen problems after hiring a financial advisor come from higher than anticipated fees, poor customer service, lack of personalized service, poor investment track …
How to Avoid Problems When Hiring a Financial Advisor Read More »
Investing can seem very complicated if you’re not familiar with all the financial lingo. If you’re wondering how to understand your investments, these 3 steps will get you well on your way. Your money is divided among into stocks, bonds and cash type investments based on your goals, desired risk and time frame. The stocks …
How to Understand Your Investments (Investing 101, Lingo Free) Read More »
You may be at a point where you’re wondering if you should manage your own money or hire a financial advisor. After using several financial advisors, and also managing my own money over the years, I learned that there are some good reasons to invest yourself. This includes lower costs, alternative investing, overall returns and …
Should You Manage Your Own Money (With Time and Cost Comparisons) Read More »
Most articles about wealth building after 50 have tips with a minimal impact on true financial independence. If you’re over 50 and far short of reaching your big retirement number, it’s time to take some serious steps beyond investing pocket change and cutting out lattes. While these aren’t bad ideas, they ’re not going to …
Wealth Building After 50 (No Penny Pinching and a Bit of a Rant) Read More »
Imagine if you were one of the very first investors in Facebook, Apple or Uber. If this seems crazy, remember that every company needs startup capital, and individual investors can now participate in startup funding easier than ever. Investing in startups for individuals now has many options, including online startup companies that match investors with …
There is wealth building, and there is wealth keeping. Both matter. In this post, you’ll get 33 wealth building steps that are useful if you want to accumulate more wealth from any level, and to feel more in control of your financial destiny. My financial coaching clients often think the answer to building wealth will …
33 Wealth Building Steps That Will Shape Your Destiny Read More »
Investing in the stock market can be unsettling, especially after stock prices have climbed sky high. At any given time, I ask myself “How will a stock market crash affect me?” To get a very reasonable estimate for how much my net worth will decline in the next stock market crash I do this simple …
How Will a Stock Market Crash Affect You? [Infographic + Video] Read More »
Do you live with an ongoing but subtle fear that you’ll run out of money? And does that fear get louder with each passing year? In this post, I’ll share how to not outlive your money. Taking action on the right steps for where you are right now will help calm your fears. Don’t Assume …
Are you wondering what investment strategies you can use to lower your risk while increasing your returns? In this post, I’ll share five investment strategies that one of the top financial advisors uses to build wealth safely for his clients while also generating income. Many years ago, my dad taught me to investigate where and …
Investment Strategies A High Net Worth Advisor Uses To Lower Risk Read More »
If you’re wondering how to build wealth, you’re not alone! In this article, I’ll share five methods for how to build wealth. Each of these strategies I have personally done. While every attempt hasn’t succeeded, I’ve learned the most from the ventures that didn’t go well. It goes without saying that the more money you …
Should your investment portfolio have 90% in stocks and bonds and 10% in cash? Or should it have 60% in stocks and bonds and 30% in cash? The commonly recommended percentage for buy and hold portfolio cash is ten to fifteen percent based on an age appropriate asset allocation model. Tactical investors and financial advisors, …
What Percentage of Cash Should Be in My Portfolio? Read More »