Category: Risk

  • Prioritizing Your Retirement Needs, Part I

    When you take the time to ponder your retirement picture, how much do you see and how well ­focused is the image? A comprehensive retirement plan is, in a manner of speaking, a picture of your future — a future in which an alarm clock won’t likely figure very prominently, if at all, since you’ll no longer be going to work every day.  Having a fruitful retirement is the postscript to the American Dream — and the ideal is to spend those proverbial golden years in comfort and calm, spending your time and money when and where you will. But in order for that to happen, you must carefully think about several retirement concerns and how much value you place on each before you can really see the full picture. It all comes down to prioritization, but oftentimes there’s just so much to consider that the task becomes daunting. To guide you down this crowded planning path, the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI), a not-­for­profit organization with a focus on insured retirement income, developed the “Retirement Expectations Checklist,” an extensive list of retirement concerns you should address when formulating your plan. To give you the resources and perspective you need to start developing a clearer view of it all, we’ll discuss a few of these important considerations as well as how other baby boomers generally feel about them so you can measure your concerns against those of your peers. The next step? Take your list of prioritized retirement needs to your advisor to discuss what you must do to meet your expectations and paint  your perfect — and complete — retirement picture. Your Retirement Number: How much money will it take for you to retire? If you haven’t started thinking about this all ­important figure, like almost half (46 percent) of your boomer counterparts, now’s the time to do so. Once you have a general idea of how much you’ll need to save in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement, talk to your advisor or planner about which strategies and tools you can use to make it happen. And don’t forget to plan for a long post­work life — the chances that you or your spouse will survive at least to age 90 are pretty darn good, so plan with an eye toward never running out of income. Investment Product Criteria: Combine long life expectancies with an unsteady stock market and an uneasy economy, and many Americans start craving safety. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that. More and more boomers are becoming aware of the importance of guarantees — guarantees in both principal protection and income generation. In fact, one­-third (33 percent) of boomers cite these guarantees as the most important criteria an investment or savings product must meet. What criteria are most important to you? Your Retirement Age: How long do you think you’ll want to — or have to — work before you retire? When it comes to determining a retirement age, 39 percent of boomers don’t have a target age for when they will retire. But before trying to decide how old you’ll be when you leave the workforce, it’s a good idea to assess your situation with a qualified planner., as he or she can work with you to develop a realistic goal. If you already have an age in mind, your advisor will be able to tell you whether your goal can be achieved or if you’ll need to put a bit more — or maybe less — time into your career before you can put your feet up for good. We’ve scratched just beyond the surface of what goes into crafting a beautiful retirement picture, and it should leave you with plenty to think about. Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of that image! In Part II of this article, we’ll discuss a few more common concerns you should take into account before retiring.

  • Are you Gambling or Investing?

    We’ve all heard the old adage that investing in the market is the same thing as gambling. With America’s #1 wagering event, the Super Bowl, still fresh in our memories, it seems like a good time to take a look at the truth behind that statement. According to mint.com, $87.5 million worth of legal bets…

  • Simple Strategies for Beefing up Your Savings

    If you’re like most Americans, no matter how old you may be, you’ve had the importance of saving money beat into your head ever since childhood. Even now, as an adult, you can almost hear your parents voicing didactic phrases like, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” or “A…

  • Stockpicking?

    There are so many unknown variables when picking individual stocks (literally trillions), that is why it is impossible to consistently guess which ones are going to go up or when they are going to go down. The lure for stock speculators is similar to the gambler… the excitement that is felt and experienced when they…

  • Wednesday Wisdom from Mark Matson

    Should investors try to predict the future? “I always have to remind investors to stop playing God. Specifically that means stop trying to predict the market, and stop trying to forecast the market. Above all, it means stop trying to find anyone else who says they can do these things, because anyone who tells you…

  • Mark Matson on Prudent Investing

    The complexity of investing and the overwhelming tendency to perpetuate self-destructive investing behavior make it seem only natural to seek professional help. Many Americans turn to financial planners, brokers, or fee-based money managers. But are these professionals as a whole any better than Main Street investors when it comes to following the simple rules of…

  • Matson on Investor Courage

    Trying to play God with the financial markets is highly destructive. So don’t try it. In the end, you will guess wrong. Instead, have the long-term courage to take the long view and stick to your plan. Know that courage doesn’t meant the absence of fear. Courage means feeling the fear and doing the right…

  • Matson on Investor Emotions

    You will often hear so-called investment experts say things like, “You have to eliminate feelings from the investment process.” There is only one problem with that: It is impossible. No one can completely eliminate feelings and emotions from the investing process, because everyone is human. Pretending otherwise and believing your emotions won’t come into play…

  • Matson On Dysfunction Loves Secrecy

    Most of us have been taught that investing is a solitary experience; that what we do is we go and meet with our financial planner or our financial advisor, and don’t talk about money with others, don’t share what is going on, and certainly don’t share your fear, or your apprehension, or your goals, or…

  • Wednesday Wisdom from Main Street Money

    Matson On The Financial Media They need readers and viewers to sell advertising. It is all about profits and the way to keep you watching and reading is to tap in your emotions, instincts, and perception biases. They magnify the urge to speculate and gamble. Many of them believe it is their job to help…