Wall Street is selling wealth management by managing returns volatility when the vast majority of us probably need something else. Depending on where you are in the lifecycle, you likely will be better served managing savings or managing spending.
Most folks think investing is about picking stocks and dodging in and out of the market before the roof falls in. Maybe with play money. In real life, investing is about figuring out your life goals, how to pay for them, and then designing an investment approach that will get you to a successful outcome, […]
You know that the fees you pay to invest your savings matter, and that these costs, even tiny percentages, can significantly reduce your gains over a lifetime of saving and investing. You are probably also aware of the rise of “robo-advisors,” web-based automated do-it-yourself investment management sites like Wealthfront and Betterment that provide sophisticated, algorithmic […]
I just returned from the RIIA (Retirement Income Industry Association) Fall Conference in Charlotte where I gave a presentation on emerging robo-advisors and financial planning. For most of you, sitting through a conference listening to talks about retirement income probably ranks somewhere between enduring a visit to the dentist and enduring a visit from a […]
There are well over 600,000 financial advisors of various flavors competing for your personal investing business—registered reps, investment advisors, dual registered, and insurance agents, each with a different angle and way to be paid. Regardless and not surprisingly, most are focused on investing, investment strategies, and getting you into investment products. As a consequence, most […]
Few of us have a very complete understanding of what investing is. We may think about it as being smart or lucky enough to pick the right stocks (“winners”) so that our money grows and grows. We may follow our gut or some guru (the wackier the better, apparently), looking for maximum return or yield. […]
There is an ongoing discussion in personal finance about the differences between safety-first and probability-based approaches to managing money, especially money for retirement. You are (probably) familiar with the probability-based approach from hearing some of these well-known rules of the thumb: [list style=”orb” color=”green”] You can withdraw 4% a year and (probably) not run out […]
I’ve been busy the last few months enhancing the planning tool I’ve developed, R-Map Planner, and building a home for it on the web where planners and civilians alike can find out about it and license it. So I’ve been a bit absent here from posts recently (no cheering!), part of the time division that […]
With it’s recent awards to economists Gene Fama, Robert Shiller, and Lars Peter Hansen, the Nobel committee appears to have come to a conclusion, of sorts, that the markets are irrationally efficient. F. Scott Fitzgerald suggested the ability to hold two opposite ideas in mind at the same time and still be able to function […]
Last time we discussed when to invest and said that first you should make a sound lifetime financial plan for saving and investing based on your goals and the strength of your household balance sheet. When you have that plan, you should follow the plan, invest regularly, and not try to time the market. If […]