Retirement Watch Weekly
Injecting Some Growth to the Portfolios
Investors aren’t making too many mistakes these days. That means we have to search harder to find profitable investment ideas with a margin of safety. The most frequent mistake investors make is to misprice investments. In the typical investment cycle, investors buy whatever has been rising. This pushes the price of that asset to an […]
Our Aggressive Invest with the Winners Portfolios
We are low risk investors here at Retirement Watch. Carefully assess the risks and avoid the big losses is a big part of my investment philosophy. The gains will take care of themselves because of the long-term growth trends in the economy and the markets. That is why instead of searching for the next investment […]
End of the AMT?
The Alternative Minimum Tax might be nearing its end. Powerful U.S. senators announced their plan to pass a termination of the AMT by the end of 2005. If they are successful, many middle class and upper middle class Americans will breathe easier. But even if the senators are successful, you still must fear getting trapped […]
Get a Jump on Charitable Giving
Charitable giving tends to be clustered in the last couple of months of the year. But if you want to maximize charitable giving and your after-tax wealth, begin your charitable gift planning now. Instead of rushing the process in the busy year-end period, take the time today to plan the best way to make gifts […]
Ways to Boost Social Security Benefits
Social Sec-urity is in the news because of President Bush’s reform proposal. But there are a number of issues regarding the current system that are real head-scratchers for beneficiaries. Let’s take a look at the confusing issues I hear about most. Survivor’s vs. retirement benefits. A spouse or ex-spouse might be eligible for his or […]
11 Strategies to Handle Trusts Better
Trusts no longer are just for the very wealthy. Many families use trusts for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, trusts often can result in significant problems for loved ones long after the trust creator is gone. Problems include excess costs, poor investments, low payouts, and unresponsiveness to the family’s needs. In many states, beneficiaries are […]
Estate Planning – How to Make Health Care Directives Work
Most advanced health care directives are not followed by doctors and loved ones. Studies consistently show that is the case, for a host of reasons. In last month’s visit we discussed why you need more than a Living Will in your estate plan to cover health care decisions. This month, let’s look at the steps […]
Anyone Can Build a Hedge Fund Portfolio
Our portfolio of mutual funds with “hedge fund” strategies is still delivering the steady, solid returns we set as its goal. This last quarter also shows why I put together this collection of funds. You can see how they work together as a portfolio to achieve steady returns. The portfolio had a modest gain for […]
