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Your Financial Plan is Outdated the Next Day
As soon as you create a financial plan, it will likely be outdated the following day. Hence, this is not a reason to avoid completing a plan. I give a nod to our servicemen and military. They prepare...
View ArticleGive up this freedom grudgingly!!
There are some very good investments that tie up your money and make it difficult to retrieve without large penalties or long waiting periods. Many of these investments are simply not geared to a...
View ArticleSafe Withdrawal Rates in Retirement
I have met more than one individual that have wanted to take more than 10% out of their investments for retirement. They did not actually consider what percentage they needed, they were just thinking...
View ArticleShopping for a Health Savings Account
The deadline for the first phase of Obamacare, insurance exchanges for individuals, has passed. You may have chosen a health savings account (HSA), or you have been using one through your employer. In...
View ArticleAre we financially Secure for Retirement?
This was the question I was asked recently by a couple. They have wonderful income. They are great savers and have amassed a great deal of savings. And yet, they had the question: Are we financially...
View ArticleMaking proper use of your advisor
If you have an investment advisor, you want to make maximum use of them as trusted members of your financial team. A fee based investment advisor is held to a fiduciary standard, meaning they must put...
View ArticleWhat Is Our Level of Confidence that We Will Reach Our Financial Goals
In a previous post we discussed a couple in New Jersey who wanted to know if they are “Financially Secure”. In the same meeting, they asked “What is our level of confidence that we will reach our...
View ArticlePlease, can we cut the crash talk from our lives!!!
The bulls and bears are out every day, appealing to your greed and fear. Each and every one of them seems to be well reasoned, thoughtful, and convincing. The sad truth is that none of these experts...
View ArticleRun Your Own Race
It is only natural to try to compare to others when considering “how am I doing?”. In the investment world, most Americans compare their portfolio to the S&P 500, an index of 500 large US companies...
View ArticleSnake oil or diversification? Maybe some of both?
In a momentous decision this week, CALPERS (the California Public Employee Retirement System) announced that it would shed all of its hedge fund holdings. This was the Absolute Return portion of its...
View ArticleMusings on Recent Market Volatility
Welcome Fellow Lizard Brains! Back in 2005, Terry Burnham penned Mean Markets and Lizard Brains. The point of his terrific book was that parts of our brain are wired to behave in a reptilian fashion,...
View ArticleThe “forecast” for 2015
“Now the water’s wide and deep and brown. She’s crossing muddy waters”- John Hiatt Yes, it’s that time of year. The pundits and experts take out their crystal balls and tell you exactly what is going...
View ArticleUnderstanding Risk
Frederick Douglas once famously said “they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters”. His point was that that is not possible to enjoy the beauty of the ocean without accepting the stormy...
View ArticleThe Accuracy in Projecting Stock Market Growth For 2015
Investment results for portfolio managers are largely determined by the accuracy of stock market predictions; however, the same cannot be said for strategists. Because of the high frequency that...
View ArticleInterest rates, Oil Prices, and other thoughts
As usual, we have all the predictors out there trying to stir up your emotions through fear and greed. I just Googled “market to fall 50%” and got 180,000 results in less than half a second. I then...
View ArticleThe Really, Really Big news!
The other day as I was driving to Denver the airways were filled with the big news – “the NASDAQ has hit 5,000 for the first time in 15 years”. As the expert remarked, “Wow!”. The wow factor is that,...
View ArticleRisk-What it’s all about!
Risk is the chance of loss, and for most of history it was viewed as that. There is a chance I’m going to lose. But in the capitalist system, risk is also an opportunity. Nothing ventured, nothing...
View ArticleWake Up …and Smell the Coffee!!!
Those of you, who know me well, know that I am not a fan of predictors or pundits who predict the future. However, I do think it is a totally rational concept to be able to come up with a realistic...
View ArticleFLOW: Volume 3 – Taking the Financial Plunge into High Dividend Funds
In our most recent series written by Jamie Cornehlsen, Denver CFA and founder of Capstone, FLOW examines how we seek out investments and make selections based on current market trends and future...
View ArticleIs Climbing the “Wall of Worry” Still an Option?
By Ted Schwartz, CFP® From March of 2009 until 2015, the stock market climbed a “wall of worry”, rising dramatically throughout the six-year period. In the wake of the strongest financial crisis since...
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