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Category: Investing

10 Charts About Retirement Every Retiree Should See (2020)

10 Charts About Retirement Every Retiree Should See (2020)

As a Retirement Planner, each year I eagerly await the release of J.P. Morgan’s Guide to Retirement. It is essentially a booklet of retirement charts filled with great information impacting retirees. Making it even better, it often highlights things that are regularly overlooked by just about anyone (including professionals) planning for retirement today. With that in mind, I have selected 10 charts that I think everyone transitioning into retirement should see with a little commentary on each. Every chart comes…

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5 Actions You Can Take During a Bear Market

5 Actions You Can Take During a Bear Market

Right about now, investors and advisors are kicking themselves for not having sold about two weeks ago. Some are still considering selling. Investors who say the thought hasn’t crossed their mind are probably lying to themselves. It’s easy to say to ourselves, “I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE SOLD!” because hindsight is always 20/20. But the truth is, we didn’t know because we can’t know. That’s truly the toughest part of my job. I live, eat and breathe this stuff and…

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The Response is Still the Same

The Response is Still the Same

Mark Manson is a writer I admire for the quality of his thinking. In his Monday Newsletter, he wrote the following: Pick Your Poison: Health Crisis or Economic Crisis? – If you quarantine large swaths of the population, now you’ve created another predicament for yourself: commerce grinds to a halt. It’s estimated that 30% of small businesses in China are closed right now. Japan closed all of their schools for March, sending nearly a million teachers home without work. Millions of…

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Your Portfolio Was Built for This

Your Portfolio Was Built for This

SELL! SELL! SELL! This is the typical response recommended by the media right now as they go about trying to make some sense out of things that are unable to be understood, forecasted or responded to. It’s what they do. What should you be doing with your portfolio to account for the coronavirus? If I had a dime for how many times I’ve heard that over the past couple of weeks, I’d already be retired. Seriously though, what should you…

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Rethinking Investment Risk in Retirement

Rethinking Investment Risk in Retirement

Investors love to talk about risk. What’s the downside risk? How can you hedge your risk? How can I evaluate the risks in my portfolio? Should we address investment risk in retirement the same as during the accumulation phase? What about my personal risk tolerance? These days, risk tolerance questionnaires are all the rage and there are companies springing up out of nowhere trying to cash in on this CYA idea. Many of them are even willing to “brand” you…

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Now Never Feels Like the Right Time to Invest

Now Never Feels Like the Right Time to Invest

As I sat with a friend the other night, the conversation came up as to what he should do with all the negative market news as he indicated to me that he had a significant amount of funds on the sidelines. (Full disclosure: He said this conversation should be a blog post since it was this blog that opened the lines of communication.) Conveniently, I’ve had a number of experiences over the past few years where clients have come into…

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Nobody Saw This Coming…

Nobody Saw This Coming…

Do you remember the stock market late in 2018? Let me remind you… The graphic above shows the last quarter of 2018 – a roughly 14% decline in a relatively short period of time. The peak to trough decline was closer to 20%. There were a litany of scary headlines about President Trump lashing out at the Federal Reserve, the slowing of corporate profits, how the trade war was impacting global growth and a partial government shutdown thanks to squabbling…

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Retirement Income in Bull Markets, Bear Markets & Flat Markets

Retirement Income in Bull Markets, Bear Markets & Flat Markets

I live in a bedroom community of Pittsburgh and there are two primary routes to get to the grocery store. Back roads and the highway. During perfect conditions, the backroads take about twelve minutes and the highway takes about nine or ten minutes. I always take the backroads and my wife would choose the highway most of the time. My logic is that in virtually all conditions, the backroads take 12 minutes. The highway, while faster during optimal times, could…

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When It’s Smart to Pay Capital Gains Taxes

When It’s Smart to Pay Capital Gains Taxes

Imagine for a moment that you are the coach of a Major League Baseball team and you’ve successfully coached your team to the World Series. You’re about to start the 9th inning of Game 7 and your team is up 3-1. You are just three outs away from being crowned World Champions. A life-changing opportunity for players and coaches alike. But before the 9th inning begins, you visit the opposing team’s dugout and ask their coach if they’d like to…

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Retiring at Market Highs

Retiring at Market Highs

As we approach new all-time market highs, one fear I routinely hear is a concern over retiring at market highs. It makes sense given that sequence of returns risk is so prevalent early in retirement. If you experience a market meltdown during your first few years in retirement, that’s obviously not a good thing and most certainly not enjoyable. It’s the primary reason I advocate for pairing dividend growth investing with a bucket allocation strategy in an effort to stem…

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