Retirement Watch Weekly
Managing Today’s Overlooked Risks
Investors and markets have been calm and steady for a while. That’s generating some profits but means some risks are being overlooked or downplayed. The U.S. economy continues to grow. The low first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth didn’t reflect the real state of the economy. The bulk of the data reported during the quarter […]
Managing Your Taxable Accounts for Maximum After-Tax Returns
Too many investors wait until late in the year to maximize after-tax investment returns. That costs them a lot of money. Later this year, most financial publications and websites will run articles on “year end tax planning for investors.” The problem is you should be mulling these strategies all year. Every time you consider a […]
Answering the Important Longevity Question
Most people shortchange one of the most important issues in their retirement plans. The result can be a wildly inaccurate plan. A goal of every retirement plan is to ensure your income and cash flow last at least the rest of your life. To meet that goal, you need a reasonable estimate of your life […]
Increase After Tax Wealth by Matching the Right Assets to the Right Accounts
How much time do you spend on asset location? Notice, that’s asset location not asset allocation. If you’re like most investors and even financial advisers, you don’t give asset location much time or attention or use some oversimplified rules of thumb. Over time, that oversight reduces after-tax returns, and that means your nest egg won’t […]
Managing the Beneficiaries, Heirs, Trustees, and Executors in Your Estate Planning Process
There’s a time bomb ticking in many estate plans. You likely won’t know if the bomb explodes. The bombs explode in many estates, however, and the only question is how big the explosion will be. The “bomb” is the person, or people, you name to act for you. Whether they act during your lifetime or […]
The Roots of Today’s Growth
Remember the global panic of early 2016? The recent economic growth and market strength had their roots there. You might remember that in late 2015, investors started to see warning signs in China. China’s stock markets had a very strong 2015, largely because regulators had changed the rules to allow more leveraged investing. As 2015 […]
Two Interesting Health Articles on Alzheimers
I know many of you have an interest in Alzheimer’s research and treatment because you’ve known someone with the disease. This article has an interesting take on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and its approval process for drugs. The thesis is that the FDA’s approval process is too restrictive. The result is that drugs […]
Affluent Retirees Scared to Spend During Retirement
America’s affluent retirees are sitting on piles of cash that they don’t want to spend. A new survey points out that many people who are in their 80s today have more wealth than they did in their 60s and 70s, and that’s because they steadily reduce their spending each year. Further probing found that the […]
