September 2019

Monday’s Coming Like A Jail On Wheels…..When Is My Retirement?

Don’t let your retirement plan get impeached by making bad choices. Read this week’s terrific links for some better options.   Many women are at a disadvantage when it comes to retirement savings. Morningstar Filling out your kid’s FAFSA form correctly will help you save more for retirement. CNBC Can you still get a mortgage…

403Badlands

“Nature abhors a vacuum.” – Aristotle Empty space fills.  No law that says it has to be with something good. After World War I, the United States decided to follow a policy of Isolationism, the 1920’s version of “America First.” The war quickly became a deadly fiasco. The treaty ending it wasn’t much better. Americans…

Dancing With The Dream Hoarders

Why do so many safety nets go to the wealthy? America created a glass floor protecting the upper-middle class from the risk of downward mobility. Take a look at this crazy story from Dancing With the Stars. Christie Brinkley broke her wrist during a rehearsal. She was immediately replaced by her 21-year-old daughter, Sailor. Things…

Monday’s Coming Like A Jail On Wheels…..When Is My Retirement???

Ignoring market noise when planning for your retirement is essential. If you’re waiting for stability in the Middle East to invest – Good luck with that. Avoid the nonsense by reading this week’s terrific retirement links.     Be careful about moving to a low-tax state. CNBC Here’s how to negotiate a phased retirement. The…

Get into Giving

Dina here … Exactly one year ago, I wrote a post,  Hardwired to Help, which told about our front-row seat in the world of pediatric cancer.  My goal was two-fold: to raise awareness about pediatric cancers (September gold), but also to encourage others to find their cause, whatever that might be.  A happiness study I…

Financial Markets Are Made Of Events, Not Things

“The world is nothing but change.” – Carlo Rovelli If you’re looking for order in the markets, good luck with that. Carlo Rovelli, the brilliant theoretical physicist, provides an epic description of time in his best selling book –The Order of Time. Physicists look at things much differently than us mere mortals. Their worldview is…

How To Lose The Retirement Game When You’re Winning 44-1

Investing isn’t like fantasy football. More choices don’t mean more wins. Too many options are a losing strategy. Using this reasoning, good 401(K) sponsors spend time focusing on providing one low-cost vendor for employees. Companies like Apple and Google follow this winning formula. Teacher’s 403(b) plans choose the opposite track. Focusing on quantity leads to…

Monday’s Coming Like A Jail On Wheels…..When Is My Retirement???

Working until you die is a plan – just not a good one. Read this week’s terrific links and learn some better ways to plan your retirement. Self-employed people are way behind in retirement savings. CNBC Should poor people be forced to save for retirement? MarketWatch Your parent’s retirement advice may be all wrong. The…

Reflect, but Remember to Act

Dina here … Crises of any kind usually require all of our attention at once. After the immediate emergency or threat passes and the brain stops pinging, reflection is possible; such was the case for me in the months following September 11, 2001. It had taken a while for the shock to wear off, but…

Financial Salespeople Need to Stay in Their Lanes

Investors desperately need advice they can trust. Most have no idea how to go about finding it. At Wealth/Stack, Babara Roper, Nicole Boyson and Dina discussed this timely, and disturbing issue. Legalese confuses retail investors, even when used by their advocates. While minutia matters in a court of law,  Victory was declared in the court…