Sensible Expectations for Inflation

My Comments: When I talk with prospective clients and those already clients, I talk about existential risk. These are risks that may or may not happen, depending on any number of variables. One of them is inflation since it reduces the purchasing power of your dollars over time. Another existential risk is the financial burden …

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5 QLAC Questions and Answers

My Comments: QLAC? What the heck is a QLAC? By Jeffrey Levine / July 18, 2014 On July 1, 2014 the Treasury Department released the long-awaited final regulations for Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLACs). These new annuities will offer advisors a unique tool to help clients avoid outliving their money. The QLAC rules, however, are …

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Increased Consumer Spending Driving Strong Economic Growth In USA

My Comments: On Thursday, July 30 the market dropped 300 points. The blogosphere and media were all a chatter about "was this the start of the correction?". Who knows ?!? It illustrates why those of us who profess to be financial advisors are more in the dark than you are. Here we are talking about …

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Obama Needs to Play The Honest Broker in the Mideast

My Comments: It’s Friday, I’m looking forward to the weekend, and yet the world keeps spinning and I can’t keep up. I’ve found myself turning off the TV when I find airheads talking about Isreal and Gaza, not because it isn’t important, but because I’m tired of hatred that has no other rationale than “my …

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What You Don’t Know About Social Security—but Should

My Comments: You may not agree with me but Social Security is a complicated issue. If you hope to find a quick and easy summary of what is implied by the title, you'll be disappointed. My assumption is that if you haven’t yet applied for Social Security benefits, that day will come, and statistics tell …

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The Hangover

My Comments: The blogosphere and financial press is increasingly filled with questions and presumed answers about the amount of time since the last market correction. The focus of each writers attention is to suggest doom is imminent or doom is not imminent. Personally, I have no idea when the next crash will happen, just that …

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Here’s All The Free Stuff You Can Get With Obamacare

My Comments: Damn. I knew this was too good to be true. This had to have been written earlier this year but it showed up just a few days ago. Must have come from the same people who wrote the code for HealthCare.gov. And yes, I know none of this is "free" but still. The …

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These 3 Charts Show The Amazing Power Of Compound Interest

My Comments: Math was not and remains not one of my strengths. But I understand this part. If you are younger than I am and have an opportunity to put some money to work, you need to push the envelope and make it happen. Whether you do or not, the price you pay for stuff …

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25 Things You Should Do Before You Die

My Comments: This appeared in a financial planning magazine and really doesn’t need any comments from me. I’d only mess it up. Well, wait a minute. Years and years agao, before computers, social media and instant messaging, I read that every man should achieve three goals. They were to build a house, father a child …

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The Tolling Bells of Complacency

My Comments: Not too many years ago, the idea of stability in the markets was divine. Now, not so much. That’s partly because with new technology and tactical opportunities from Guggenheim Partners, volatility increases your chance to outperform and watch your accounts grow. Of course, it also increases your chance to lose money if you …

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