The answers to these questions can uncover the North Star to guide you toward an investment plan that’s right for you. One day, the market is at an all-time high. The next day, the Dow loses hundreds of points. Not more than a week later, the markets spring upward and are acting like that…
Generally speaking, it’s no secret that people aren’t saving enough for retirement. But when the conversation focuses on women and retirement, that struggle may be even more pronounced than what men face. By Nick Economos We continue to see data that shows women are outliving men yet, in many cases, still aren’t on equal ground with…
As we were watching former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan the other day being interviewed about the current state of the economy, he was pessimistic about the economic outlook here and across the globe. That’s not terribly unusual. By his own admission, Alan Greenspan hasn’t been optimistic about the economy in a while. However, there…
By Nick Economos Whenever you’ve heard about insurance as an investment option, there’s an excellent chance that you’ve heard pitches rather than plans. The truth is, insurance could be a perfectly fine option to consider, but it’s challenging to know when you’re bombarded with promises like: “It’s got a dividend of 6%!” Not to mention you…
By Nick Economos Can you imagine fearing retirement once you’re actually in it? It’s more legitimate and common than you realize, even as you have a blank canvas for mapping out the rest of your life by engaging in retirement planning. Allow me to illustrate from a client conversation and you’ll see what I mean. Recently,…
“America is going to hell. Our workers are losing their jobs. We have a problem with China. We have a problem with Japan. We have a problem with Mexico both at the border and in trade.” – Donald Trump As…
By Nick Economos Something about that Blue Chip stock just seems to be safer to you. After all, it’s a household brand name. It’s listed on that exclusive list of only 30 companies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Its earnings appear stable and without much risk. So what could go wrong? It’s an easy assumption…
If you consume any kind of financial media, you can’t help but notice a recurring theme: Negativity. Why all the doom and gloom? Our theory is that there’s actually an incentive to scare from the media because it makes for a compelling story that sells. Firms that create financial products stand to benefit from fear…
By Nicholas Economos, CRPS® The editorial mission of the Fiduciary Advisor blog, and all of our FFP University publications, is to help investors translate the latest market news from a fiduciary perspective — putting their needs first on an active basis. Our quarterly market review webinars are a big part of that. We know that many of our…
By John Hillman, MBA, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, CLTC Planning how you will make up for any potential shortfalls from reductions in Social Security and Medicare benefits is critical to minimizing longevity risk. My inaugural post for The Fiduciary Advisor went into some detail on this. Another key longevity risk factor to plan for is extended…
Our post for The Fiduciary Advisor briefly discussed funding risk and the fact that most Americans do not adequately contribute to their retirement plans. Funding risk is simply the risk of not having enough money with which to retire. Your contribution rate is very important, but your growth rate, and distribution rate when you eventually…
By John Hillman, MBA, CFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, CLTC In our last post for The Fiduciary Advisor, we went into detail on investment risk. Another major retirement risk that has increased for many individuals is longevity risk. Simply put, longevity risk is the risk that payout levels are higher than expected due to increasing life expectancy…