Retirement Watch Weekly
Understanding the Latest Employment Reports
Last week’s Employment Situation reports disappointed some investors and analysts. They’re misinterpreting the data. The government reported only 138,000 new jobs created. Also, last month’s reported 211,000 new jobs were revised down to 174,000, well below the numbers of the past year, thus raising concerns among some observers about reduced growth. In addition, average hourly earnings increased […]
Should You Put Your Estate Planning Strategy On Hold? (8-Point Checklist)
Tax reform proposals are slowly being developed in Congress, including changes in the estate tax. People are asking, “Should I delay my estate planning until the new law is clear?” We’ve been down this road before, and the answer is: You shouldn’t delay. Congress is looking at changing only the federal estate and gift taxes, […]
As Boomers Downsize, Kids Don’t Want Their Heirlooms
A time-honored tradition is for older generations to pass some of their household goods and personal effects to younger generations. The tradition is drawing to a close in many families, according to this article. It says the Boomers are downsizing to smaller homes and asking which of their effects tehir children and grandchildren. They’re learning […]
Teach Your Grandchildren About Money – Financial Literacy
A new survey found that 15 year olds all over the world don’t know much about money and finance. Most teenagesr are financially illiterate and aren’t prepared to manage their own money when they start to earn some. Students at the lowest level of financial literacy “cannot even recognize the value of a simple budget […]
A Sampling of Investment Advice from Buffett, Dalio, and Others
The author of this post put together some advice and thoughts from successful people he admires, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Charlie Munger, Ray Dalio, and others. Dalio starts with a rational analysis of the information he has and from that he forms a hypothesis. He then exposes that hypothesis to thoughtful people with alternative […]
Sell in May and Go Away?
Investors who followed the old adage to sell in May and buy again in November missed some nice gains in the last month. The S&P 500 rose 1.40% for the month of May and is up 8.62% for the year to date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average returned 0.71% for the month and 7.41% so […]
Why Some People Fear Retirement
Finances aren’t the only reason some people fear retirement. According to this article, people who have no financial worries don’t want to retire because they’ll miss many aspects of their work. They’ll miss the social contact, the structure, and having people come to them for decisions and advice. Higher-level employees and business owners will miss […]
Investing and Political Uncertainty
How do you invest in a time of high political uncertainty and volatility? We had to deal with that issue several times in the recent past, and most investors handled it the wrong way. After months of very low volatility and what I’ve been calling complacency, investors had a wake-up call last week. A special […]
