Retirement Watch Weekly
Family Finances Miscommunication in Estate Planning
A new survey from Fidelity confirms what we already knew. Parents don’t tell adult children much about their finances or estate plans, but the parents think they’ve presented full details. Not having the discussions or delaying them leads to confusion, hampers planning, and eventually costs the family a lot of money and missed opportunities. The […]
Mutual Fund Managers of the Year
Morningstar has issued its list of fund managers of the year for 2016. There aren’t any surprises on the list. Dodge & Cox Balanced, a long time recommendation in Retirement Watch, is the asset allocation fund of the year. Oakmark International and a T. Rowe Price stock fund also are perennial stars. Don’t use this […]
Finding Interesting Opportunities outside the United States
While investors are focused primarily on the U.S. economy and markets, they’re missing some changes in Japan and Europe. Let’s start with Europe. Many analysts have been negative about Europe for a while, especially since the “Brexit” vote last June when U.K. citizens chose to leave the European Union. But Brexit is going to be […]
Stocks vs. Treasury Bills: Which is the Highest Performing Investment
Are stocks really the highest-returning investment? Research argues that treasury bills outperform all but a handful of stocks over the long-term. Here’s the research, and here’s a review of it. Most common stocks do not outperform Treasury Bills. Fifty eight percent of common stocks have holding period returns less than those on one-month Treasuries over […]
Criticizing “A Case Against Sugar”
Here’s something you won’t see much of. It’s a review of the book, The Case Against Sugar, that largely disagrees with the book’s thesis for the most part. The problem is the book argues that everything bad is the cause of sugar consumption. Stephan Guyenet argues that a series of acts and conditions lead to […]
Stories of a Bond Bear Market
Bloomberg.com has an interesting article in which it interviewed five bond market experts who are hold enough to remember the last time we had an extended bear market in bonds, way back before 1982. They reminisce about what things were like when the bull market began. Younger people who have never experienced more than a […]
Tips for Living on $60 Per Week in Retirement
A CNBC reporter decided to see if she could live for two months on $60 per week, after her fixed expenses. As a progress report she offers these five strategies on enjoying your life while spending less. It’s all good common sense. One thing I’ve noticed is that, regarding money, today’s young adults are more […]
Social Security Full Retirement Age is Rising
The Social Security reforms put in place in 1983 gradually raised the full retirement age (FRA), the age at which you can receive full benefits. FRA’s been at 66 for a while. But for those turning 62 this year, the FRA increases to 66 and two months. It continues to increase for people born after […]
