Retirement Field Guide

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Reflections on 2018 and What’s To Come in 2019

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I wavered on whether to write a post like this or not. But after realizing so much wisdom from reading similar posts from other people that I respect, I feel that if it benefits just one person then it would be worth it.  If you’re here strictly for financial content, I won’t be offended if you skip this one. As we closed out 2018, I took the week of Christmas… Read More

Comparative Disappointment

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A friend of mine has a client that inquired with disappointment that his account was down 2.5% when the S&P was up 0.5%.  He wanted to know why his portfolio was performing so poorly by comparison to the S&P.  At the time of this inquiry, the S&P was up 0.5%, Small Cap was down 5% and International was down about 15%.   This has been a pretty typical refrain for many… Read More

Something To Think About

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If you really think about it, the only two points in life that we truly don’t care about money is when we have a total lack of wisdom as a child and at our point of maximum wisdom late in life.  We spend the rest of our lives chasing it only to return to our childlike state by realizing it doesn’t matter a whole lot. That may seem odd for… Read More

One Bad Decision Is All It Takes

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There is a saying in professional golf that, “You can’t win a tournament on Thursday, but you sure can lose it.”  For the golf uninitiated, every professional golf tournament starts on Thursday and concludes on Sunday.  So, a good round on Thursday can put you in position to win with three rounds to go, but a terrible round on Thursday is likely to result in missing the cut and any… Read More

“Optimal” Retirement Planning Strategies

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I read articles regularly that discuss optimal portfolio withdrawal strategies.  I think these articles are great but are probably best kept in the academic world.  In other words, they should not be given to clients.  I have a friend that was forwarded one of these articles by an advisor as the basis for their retirement planning decisions and asked for my thoughts.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that this advisor… Read More

A Case For Long-Term Optimism - Words Matter

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The words we use are important. When you hear the term “stock market,” what immediately comes to mind?  Recently, I completed an informal survey asking that very question of various non-financial industry connections and the number one response was “risky.”  I think part of the reason people view investing as risky has something to do with the term we use when referring to the assets we are purchasing — stocks…. Read More

“Best Interest” is not Black & White

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Back in March, the CFP Board voted to require every CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professional that provides financial planning to be held to the duty of care of a fiduciary starting October 1, 2019.  I greatly applaud this move!  For folks not in our industry, if an advisor is a fiduciary, then that advisor is legally and ethically required to put your best interest before their own. Up to this point, the… Read More

Why Saving In Your 60’s Is So Important - It’s Not the Reason You Think

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When I speak to folks that are in their final stretch leading up to retirement, one topic that often comes up is how much they should be saving.  While the simplest answer is “as much as possible”, I wanted to provide some additional perspective on why saving as much as possible in the homestretch to retirement is so important. It’s not the reason you think. Let’s say that you just… Read More

Dealing With Loss

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It’s been a tough month.  About a month ago, a friend of mine lost their son unexpectedly.  Though we rarely talk due to being far away, it is a dear friend whom I’ve known nearly my entire life and our families are still very close.  His son was just 24 years old.  Clearly taken from us far too soon. Then last week, another friend lost their daughter unexpectedly.  She was… Read More

Objectivity as a Value Proposition

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The Latin term panem et circenses (bread and circuses) is a figure of speech for a superficial form of appeasement.  It is a diversion or a distraction from core issues.  If you’ve seen the movie Gladiator, multiple times they show Roman soldiers throwing bread into the stands of the Colosseum prior to the starting of the games.  Both the provisions of bread and the games themselves (hence bread and circus)… Read More