Many financial experts and influencers have been suggesting Janus Henderson AAA CLO ETF, or JAAA, as a money market alternative. Is it? It’s not for me. Why isn’t JAAA a money market alternative? The primary objective I have for a money market fund is to preserve capital, AKA, keep the same price that I paid …
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: …
Just recently I had to make changes to the tactical portfolios I established in Allocate Smartly for the monthly rebalances. Let me briefly explain/update you. I invest (and do financial coaching teaching) a professionally developed ETF strategy that rotates in and out of asset classes as indicated. Why? It’s beaten a traditional buy and hold …
Estimating how much you need to retire can feel vague and intimidating because earned income ceases for most retirees. I took the formula I use with my financial coaching clients and from my How to Retire When You Want program for this post clarifying the formula for estimating how much you need to retire. …
More investors are starting to realize that macroeconomics plays a significant role in investment returns. And investment returns determine if and how much our retirement accounts grow over time. In essence, our lives are very directly affected by Federal Reserve actions since those actions have a huge impact on the economy, and hence, our investment …
What Does It Mean When The Fed Expands Their Balance Sheet? Read More »
The question isn’t really what if a bear market occurs during retirement. The question is what to do when a bear market happens during retirement if you invest in stocks. This is true because bear markets are a fact of life for stock market investors. This means that any retiree invested in the stock market …
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 …
Buy and hold investing is the most popular investing method for individual stock and bond investors due to it’s simplicity, low cost and good long term results. There are, however, some excellent alternatives to buy and hold investing available to individual investors. In this post I’ll cover information about these alternatives to buy and hold …
Below you’ll find some of my favorite advanced investing books on a wide variety of investment strategies and approaches. I refer to them as more advanced investing books because they are beyond a typical and somewhat over simplified buy and hold investing strategy following an allocation model in stocks and bonds. All these books are …
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 …
It can be difficult to discern the best age to retire for longevity. You may have heard of a friend or colleague who passed a few years or months after their retirement. At the same time, some people seem to have figured out the secret to living a long life after retirement after retiring early. …
If you’re looking for something beyond asset allocation, real estate, or complex financial advisor lingo, keep reading. I’m revealing my very own list of advanced investing podcasts. You won’t hear about “buying and forgetting” or planning on 4% retirement withdrawals from a standard stock and bond asset allocation template from my list of advanced investing …
It’s no wonder most people have a fear of outliving retirement savings. This article addresses why people fear outliving retirement savings, and what can be done to reduce this common fear that plagues most soon to be retirees. Why People Fear Outliving Retirement Savings The scariest thing about retirement is of course the discontinuation of …
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 »
It’s never too early or too late to set financial goals. Financial goals for a 50 year old should evaluate progress toward a previously defined savings goal, as well solutions to decrease spending, increase income, increase savings, and improve investment returns to enable the accomplishment of retirement goals. In this article, each of these factors …
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 …
Saving a million dollars used to mean that you were financially set for life. Can you live off a million dollars today, and for how long? If your plan is to make 4% retirement account withdrawals, and you can live on $40,000 a year, a million dollars should support you for about 30 years. This …
An exciting and promising shift is happening right now in the way we retire. Fortunately, changes stemming from the rise of the internet now lead to rewarding retirement opportunities for those not interested in living on less while working crossword puzzles for brain stimulation in their golden years. The younger generations are living proof …
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 »
How Much Money Do You Need to Retire? Are you trying to estimate that epic number which equates to financial independence for life? How much money you need to retire can be estimated based 5 important factors: your expenses, income sources, net worth, expected investment returns, and inflation. In this post, I’ll address each …