I started the Retirement Field Guide in March 2018. At the time, the only real purpose of the site was to share my views with people in my personal circles. And in all honesty, I started the site with the goal of gaining new clients. While a number of new clients have found me through this site, I have found myself thinking less about just my personal advisory business and… Read More
2020 Required Minimum Distributions
For those who aren’t aware, the CARES Act had already waived 2020 Required Minimum Distributions (RMD). But there was a slight oversight with regard to people who had already taken their RMDs as many retirees do in January each year. Well, last week, the IRS announced that for anyone who already took their RMDs for 2020 can roll those assets back into their retirement account as long as it is… Read More
Market Expectations for the Next 30 Years
As usual, there are many different scenarios being discussed at the moment. The COVID second wave, economic struggles, interest rate projections, more fiscal stimulus, corporate bankruptcies, and on and on we go. This is applicable to the world of traders, not investors. Investors don’t invest to make a quick buck. Long-term investors - which is a redundant term - invest because it is a prudent choice to expand capital over… Read More
The Fixed Income Conundrum
Here’s where we are today: As I write this, the 10-year Treasury yield stands at about 0.94% and the 30-year Treasury stands at 1.65%. This creates a bit of a conundrum for fixed income investors. Let me explain. The Federal Reserve Board has a long-standing policy they have stated through the years of a target inflation rate of 2%. Whether or not they accomplish this goal, here is what they… Read More
Preparing For “What-Ifs”
We are now a little more than two months out from the bear market lows. As the swift recovery ensued, I started hearing stories of investors who sold out of their portfolios around DJIA 19,000 “because the market was going lower.” They were right for the blink of an eye. With the market now back above 26,000, when are those investors supposed to get back in? I have to pose… Read More
Dividend Bear Markets
An astute reader of last week’s blog post, Equities in Retirement: A 30-Year Case Study, asked a great question: “How much of a maximum decline in annual dividend income (based on prior historical experience) should one be prepared for?” In other words, during dividend bear markets, what level of income decline should we expect? The obvious answer is that I do not know because even the worst-case historical event is… Read More
Equities in Retirement: A 30-Year Case Study
Whenever I ask soon-to-be retirees what the ultimate goal of investing in retirement is, the most common answer I hear is: I don’t want to run out of money. Pretty straightforward, right? Here’s the problem. When I ask many of those same individuals what the primary objective of their retirement portfolio is, this is the typical response: Preservation of principal. Whether retirees realize this or not, those two goals run… Read More
I Wrote My First Book
This is an exciting time for me. After a few months of writing and editing, I published a book! It’s called: “Medicare Simplified: What Retirees Need to Know About Medicare in 100 Pages or Less” **Note on the image - the book is not that thick as it’s less than 100 pages and can be read in under 2 hours. My goal in writing this book was to curate the… Read More
Life Is Short
A couple of weeks ago, my step-father passed away. It was unexpected to say the least. He was the husband of my mother for the last 28 years and father to three of my brothers. He was a humble and kind man. He was also a farmer. It’s difficult to talk about my step-dad without mentioning farming because it was his love, his life, and his passion. He won tons… Read More
The Next 20% Move
As if the news cycle wasn’t already stuck in short-term repeat, our lives have entered into a morose version of Groundhog Day and we have no idea when it will end. On Twitter, somebody posted it’s March 76th because that’s what it feels like. Spring is here and instead of barbeques with neighbors, we’re locked in our houses. When each day seems like the last, it’s easy to get stuck… Read More
