… from the Perspective of a Financial Planner (I am not an attorney!) Estate planning can get complicated, and sometimes people put it off exactly for that reason. Who wants to be digging into dusty legal documents when there are other, more pleasant things to do (like washing your socks)? …
Historically, September has the highest odds of a negative stock market return out of all the months of the year. And as if on cue, this year it is no different. The S&P 5001 drifted lower at a fairly slow pace and then accelerated into the last half of the …
Wouldn’t we all like to be able to achieve instantaneous results in life? Every day, either on the radio or TV, I’m assured that I can lose 30 pounds in 4 weeks if I order the magical fat-burning tonic. I don’t even have to quit the pizza or ice cream! …
Developments surrounding China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande, are beginning to remind me of the cracks in the US mortgage markets in 2008. Evergrande is on the verge of bankruptcy, and whether the Chinese government will bail the company out is debatable, considering China’s recent business crackdowns in other areas. With …
Last month we discussed the different types of beneficiaries you can name on your IRA accounts. The beneficiaries with the most perks were the “eligible designated beneficiaries,” like a spouse. But what about naming a Trust as beneficiary? Isn’t that supposed to give loved ones some “VIP” benefits, too? The …
We’re starting to see an interesting shift in the market, and in the short-term things are looking “sub-optimal” (as a Doctor friend would say). Our Long-Term trend indicator has been weakening and is now giving us a negative reading. It tried to go positive this week on Wednesday, but failed …
If you have or believe you are going to receive an amount of money that you define as “life-changing,” I’d like to share some thoughts with you. These are hopefully thoughts that will give you comfort as well as caution when dealing with a new financial position. Receiving “life-changing money” …
We’ve done it before, several times. Inflation, even if it is mild, destroys the purchasing power of your dollars. So, the bigger question beyond “could we see double-digit inflation?” is “how to protect your family and your savings from its ravages?” This question is especially important if you invest in …
I want to talk for a moment about Beneficiaries. How you designate your assets may or may not seem important to you, but it will be extremely important to those you leave behind. This is called Estate Planning, and it’s jokingly referred to as the way you can continue to …
For most of this year so far, the market has lacked the breadth and broad participation usually behind a strong market trend (in either direction). In January, we had a brief moment where Small Cap stocks were doing great, but that hasn’t gone anywhere since then. What has driven the …
