My Comments: I wish someone would tell me what the hell is going on! One day I’m told the market is healthy and we should expect the DOW to increase dramatically. The next day there is an equally credible message that the market is way overpriced and to expect a crash. Then today, though written …
Continue reading Stocks Could Jump 15% This Year if Earnings Rise
My Comments: Please keep reading… Paul J. Lim July 6, 2016 If you think the financial panic over Brexit is over — because stocks have bounced back somewhat from their initial sell off — think again. As scared investors continue to seek shelter in boring government bonds, fixed income prices have soared while yields on …
My Comments: Economic reality drives most lives today. It shapes our ideas about politics, about family, about national security, and our fears. Almost all of us agree that life is better with more money than with less money. So where you live has a huge influence on your economic reality, and as a result, how …
My Comments: If you believe, as I do, that some of your money needs to be working harder than, say a Certificate of Deposit, then your likely solution is some kind of mutual fund or brokerage account. Most of us are not sufficiently sophisticated financially to explore other options, so for new, let’s assume you …
My Comments: I’ve been railing for some time about the income divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. If a remedy is not found, my fear is that my grandchildren, perhaps my children, will see rioting in the streets. It’s increasingly profound, and it’s contributing greatly to the political divide in this country. It’s …
My Comments: Many of you know that I’ve recently started a series of workshops that focuses on how the Social Security system works. It’s an attempt to help those who will soon become eligible, or are already eligible, better understand a very complex and not user friendly institution in American life. One assumption that is …
My Comments: I found this a couple of days ago and it really helped me understand what happened in Great Britain the other day. If Brexit concerns you, this might help. It appeared in a news feed I follow written by a Tom Dispatch, if I have his name correct. 06/26/2016 Economist Robert Kuttner has …
Continue reading Brexit: Why Most Commentaries Miss The Point
My Comments: Mutual funds have been around for about 100 years. Some genius decided to create a new investment model, a stand alone investment. With one investment you now could own shares of hundreds of stocks, in smaller amounts. And the rest is history. Today there are more funds to choose from than you can …
My Comments: The headline above should probably read ‘Sometimes’ instead of ‘Often’. It depends to some extent on when you die. Since that date is completely unknown, the only solution is to play the odds, and my recommendation these days is to assume you will live to be 100. That’s the conservative approach. Unless you …
Continue reading Claiming Social Security at Full Retirement Age is Often a Mistake
My Thoughts: Last month I posted about having stock positions in your retirement portfolio and how much was appropriate. This post is about another option where there are no stocks at all, only a promise by an insurance company to return all your money to you, over time, at a guaranteed rate of interest. Typically, …
Helping Define Your Financial Future 