Jan
04
2017
Tag: Risk Management
Mar
17
2016
Is This Career For You?
I am often asked if the financial planning field is a desirable industry to work in. Well, like many questions, it depends. I came into “the biz” in October 1989. At that time, the industry was very focused on insurance related products and did not involve much planning. Much of the training consisted of telling a prospective client, “Hey, we have this great product that...
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Feb
24
2016
Will Rising Interest Rates Affect Your Pension?
If you’re getting close to retirement and have decided to take monthly payments from your pension, then rising interest will have little impact (today) on your decision. However, if you’re considering or have been offered a lump sum payment, rising rates can make the timing of your decision critical. Or as Donald Trump says, “This will be HUGE.” Most pensions will use the present value...
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Dec
16
2015
It Pays to Stay!
It’s easy to let the emotions of greed and fear drive our investment decisions. I once heard another financial professional say, “We don’t have people with investment problems, we have investments with people problems!” I do see some truth to this. To be fair though, it’s easy to see why investors repeat bad investment behavior. After all, we are human. I mean, if somehow we...
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Dec
09
2015
Tis the Season to Gift
With the holidays heading into full gear, I wanted to discuss a few strategies available to those who are charitably inclined. Of course, you can gift $14,000 to anyone you wish annually, but these strategies are geared to benefit charities specifically. Please discuss these concepts with your tax professional as I am only covering the key distinctions and not providing advice. Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT)–allows...
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Dec
02
2015
What is “Comprehensive” Financial Planning?
It used to be you walked into your stock broker’s office, handed over your hard earned dollars, and said, “Make me some money!” Like many things, times have changed and just trying to make you money is no longer an appropriate goal. For one thing, that goal is not unique to your situation as it applies to everyone. Comprehensive Financial Planning is about building wealth...
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Nov
25
2015The “Casino Effect”
I often ask workshop attendees to tell me “What’s the number one goal of a casino when you walk in?” The answer I normally get is “To take your money!” Honestly, this is partially correct. However, the real number one goal of a casino is very simple–To make sure they get you to STAY in their casino as long as possible. They know the odds...
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Nov
11
2015
The Rebalancing Challenge
A Hypothetical Conversation That Could Be True. The concept of rebalancing is very simple. Let’s say an investor starts off with a model allocation of 50% stocks and 50% bonds. The stock markets do well and after a year the portfolio sits at 70% stocks and 30% bonds. Investors pat themselves on the back and say something like, “I did great and now I want...
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Nov
04
2015
Investor Behavior
There is a great deal of research around investor behavior. For example, our brains notice when a group provides an answer that is different from ours, the disparity is unpleasant. For many, aligning with the group is more rewarding for the brain than being independent and correct. Investing is not a game of perfect. It is a game of probabilities. As Ben Graham pointed out...
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Oct
27
2015
Investing Can Be Soooo Scary!
With Halloween upon us lets discuss some practical ways to make investing less scary… Unless you have the knowledge, desire and time (and lots of money) stay away from picking individual stocks. There are plenty of more efficient ways to invest in equities. Diversify, diversify, diversify. I know, sounds rhetorical, but believe it or not, American investors do very poorly at this simple concept. Studies...
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