Retirement Watch Weekly
Insights on Thefts from Seniors
Financial advisors are becoming more aggressive about protecting senior citizens from financial fraud and abuse. They’re being trained to recognize the warning signs and are urged to be proactive when they see something wrong. The larger financial firms train their financial advisors on the issue and have some staff members dedicated to following up and […]
Disadvantages of the Bucket Investing Method
Some investment advisors favor what’s called the “bucket method” of investing. Academic types call it “time segmentation.” Basically, in this method you divide the future into time periods and assign different amounts of money to each period. Money you need in the nearest time period is invested in liquid, conservative assets. Money that is needed […]
The First Quarter Wrap
The first quarter closed last Friday but the markets were very different in March than earlier in the year. The change altered the overall performance of different assets for the quarter, since U.S. stocks didn’t do much in March. They took a break from the strong rally they had in January and February. But overseas […]
Why Investment Returns Should Decline
A number of investment firms have argued that investment returns, especially stock returns will be below the long-term averages over the next 10 years. The main reason is that Federal Reserve policies after the financial crisis artificially boosted stock returns the last few years. Here’s another argument for lower investment returns over time. This argument […]
The Dangers of Picking the Wrong Trustees
Most estates have a trust or two, especially as the estate is more valuable. People spend a lot of time working with their estate planners on the details of the trusts. Yet, picking the trustee or trustees often is an overthought. That’s a big mistake. This article describes how the estate of one of the […]
Out-of-Pocket Medical Costs to Rise for Seniors
This article discusses several studies that project in the next couple of decades America’s seniors will pay greater shares of their income in medical expenses than seniors are doing today. The researchers made these projections without considering any future changes in Medicare. They also don’t include long-term care costs. They used a model that seeks […]
Probability of a Big Drop in Stocks
This post uses historic data to determine the probability of a significant decline in stocks by the end of 2017. It’s not using fundamental or technical factors to predict a drop at any point. The message is that, based on history, stock investors shouldn’t be too complacent about the steady rise in stocks we’ve been […]
Managing Debt, Income, and Savings
There’s a new book out by Thomas Anderson, The Value of Debt in Building Wealth. The title gives the impression that people should be in debt to maximize wealth, but that’s not what it says, according to this review. Instead, it says that people should be focus on either being debt free or leveraging their […]
