I am a willing consumer of the “self-improvement” section of the bookstore. After two decades of reading these books, it occurred to me why the continuous reading of these style books is helpful. It’s because we have short memories and need constant reinforcement of these ideas if they are to become a reality. As I have been writing this blog for almost three years, I believe this same benefit is… Read More
Why Bond Duration Matters to Your Portfolio
As I have written about extensively since the Fed aggressively cut interest rates, bonds are in a tough spot. Because I continue to get questions on why I feel so strongly about the precarious nature of bond investing at current, I want to share some additional information and perspective on why I feel the way that I do. I think providing a little bond investing education here will be time… Read More
Today’s Headlines Are Tomorrow’s Footnotes
I have been reading a collection of investment articles that were written back in the early 1990s. Here’s the gist of those articles. The bull market had gone on for about 10+ years to that point. The markets were coming off of a five-year span of ‘unprecedented volatility’ as was noted a few times. There were negative reports everywhere about the economy and how things were stalling out. People eagerly… Read More
Half a Life Ahead
A couple of years ago, a friend offered an observation that has stuck with me and I think much of our lives (and financial perspectives) can be traced back to this one single idea. That is “We can only see half of our life ahead of where we are.” Meaning, if you are 20, the oldest you can truly see yourself being is 30. Thinking about my own experiences and… Read More
The Sky is Falling
I want to briefly rant about something I believe retirees should be aware of that can potentially run their portfolios off course. That is the subject of the permabear pundits. Surprisingly, it’s not the general pessimism that bothers me. My problem with these folks is two-fold: Their pessimistic position never changes (hence the name permabear). The record of a permanently pessimistic viewpoint is historically absurd. I was sent one such… Read More
Are You Worrying About the Right Thing?
The most frequently asked question right now is how the presidential election is going to impact the stock market. What is really being asked is, “Should I sell out now and get back in later?” Who knows what is going to happen in the market… Here’s what we do know. While everyone continues to ask the question about how overvalued the market is and how volatile it might be over… Read More
An Exciting New RFG Initiative
One question I am routinely asked is, “What do I read?” It’s a difficult question to answer since I read so many unique sources thanks to Google Alerts and other curated email lists. Given that my mission is to help people make better retirement decisions, I thought it would be useful to offer a once-per-week email newsletter that features the top five (or less) articles related to retirement I read… Read More
The Enduring Reason for Optimism
I received some feedback from my post last week, Pessimism Abounds, regarding whether or not I am just wearing rose-colored glasses given the state of the world. It’s hard to argue with the state of the world argument in any kind of an immediate time frame. As I was receiving this feedback, I received the following quote from Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic email, which I highly recommend by the way…. Read More
Pessimism Abounds
With the hyper-partisan election in front of us and the COVID-inspired economic drawdown in our rearview, I find myself returning over and over again to the same question: “Is it possible that we are both too pessimistic in the short-term and too pessimistic about the long-term prospects of the market?” I’m not saying that we are, I’m just asking the question of whether it’s possible? Since 2008, I can think… Read More
The Best “Annuity” You Can Buy in Your 60s
Most retirees are all about getting the most “bang for their buck” in every facet of life. We all are. It would be hard to get more bang for your buck than by delaying Social Security by even just one year. Before you click away from another delay Social Security piece, hang with me as I’d be surprised if you have thought about it in quite this way before. That… Read More
