Retirement planning is one of those things that is necessary for everyone to do, but that everyone hates actually having to do. The myriad options available in terms of investment assets, the multiple firms competing for your business, and the knowledge that making a mistake could costs you thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money puts so much pressure...
One of the difficult parts of planning for retirement is figuring out just how much money you’ll need to live on. With no wage income coming in after you retire, your income stream will depend on what you’ve been able to save and invest over the course of your lifetime, plus any additional income from pensions, Social Security, and...
The millennial generation, those born between about 1981 and 1996, has been the subject of a lot of press. Millennials differ significantly from their parents in their consumption patterns, particularly when it comes to homeownership. If you’ve been keeping tabs on the housing market in the past few years, you probably are aware that housing prices continue to rise...
Most Americans are serious about saving for their retirement. The dream of finally being free from being tied to a job, being able to travel and do what you want, has always appealed to many people. And that’s why retirement planning has become such a large and lucrative industry. But many people unwittingly make mistakes in their retirement planning,...
Investors aren’t really any different than any other human being. They, like many others, enjoy new, shiny things. In a field in which you constantly have to reassess your investment aims, your investment performance, and your investment portfolio, there is always strong pressure to shake things up, invest in new and different assets, and try something that’s groundbreaking. Tech stocks...
If you want to live a comfortable retirement, pay for your children’s college tuition, buy a vacation house, or enjoy any of the other creature comforts that many people today have come to expect, you have to invest your money. Chances are that you’re not going to work till you die, so you can’t expect to fund your lifestyle...
In investment circles it’s common to hear that stocks and gold are negatively correlated. That is to say, gold’s price increases when stock prices decrease, and vice versa. That’s why you’ll often hear the recommendation to sell stocks and invest in gold when stocks are doing poorly, and to sell gold and buy stocks when stock markets are doing...
It’s time once again to discuss the importance of timing when it comes to investing. Timing plays a role in investing success whether we like it or not, and it affects investing strategies. Because of that, your investing strategy may need to change depending on whether you’ve got a lump sum of money to invest or whether you intend...
One of the most popular investing strategies today, and one that’s growing more popular all the time, is passive investing. It’s a strategy that focuses on investing in low-cost funds that track popular stock indices, such as the S&P 500, the Russell 2000, the Wilshire 5000, etc. Rather than trying to beat markets through active stock-picking, the passive funds...
One of the main concerns for most investors in retirement is remaining financially independent. Everyone wants to have enough money to retire on, and no on wants to run out of money. That would mean having to go back to work if you’re still young enough, or having to rely on the charity of family and friends if you’re...