Retirement Watch Weekly
January 2012
January 27, 2012 01:30 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review Central banks dominated the news this week with significant changes at the Federal Reserve. The Fed and the European Central Bank have had a stop-and-go money creation policy since the financial crisis accelerated in 2008. That appears to be in the past. This year […]
Estate Planning – The Giving, Asset-Shifting Opportunity
A unique wealth and Estate Planning opportunity presents itself to many people in 2012. It could be the last year for such an opportunity, so take advantage if it applies to you. A deal was reached in Washington in December 2010 to reduce estate and gift taxes for 2011 and 2012. Among other things, a […]
Why to Own Long Term Bonds
Many investors say you shouldn’t own treasury bonds because interest rates are too low. You aren’t being paid enough to own them. We’ve owned long term treasury bonds in our Retirement Watch portfolios since June 2011 and have earned over 20% on them. We continue to own them because economic growth is slow, inflation is […]
Making Family Wealth Last With a Family Council
You’ve probably heard the phrase “shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations” to describe the pattern of how one generation earns the wealth, the next preserves or uses it, and the third loses it and starts over. A key issue for many people today is how to ensure the next generations benefit from their […]
A Revealing Look at Hospice Care
Most people think of hospice care as a nonprofit program offered to help the terminally ill through their last days. In fact, it’s a big business filled with all sorts of aggressive sales tactics, bonuses, referrals fees, potential conflicts of interest, and regular targets or goals for employees. Bloomberg has a revealing report on this […]
December 2011
December 23, 2011 01:30 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review I wish all of you a good holiday and happy New Year. Unless something significant happens in the next week, I’ll be taking a break next week and will send the next e-mail after the first week of January. Thanks to all of you […]
Making Financial Management Easier
I’ve long been an advocate of concentrating your investments and financial matters at one or two mutual fund companies or at a discount broker. Consolidation makes it easier to know what’s in your portfolio and be sure your allocation is what you intend. Consolidation reduces procrastination, because you won’t be deterred by the time needed […]
Expand the Scope of your Estate Planning
Estate Planning is not about taxes. There was a time when it was, because relatively modest estates were depleted by taxes. Now, only about 5,600 estates a year are estimated to owe federal estate taxes, at least through the end of 2012. Yet, you need a complete, up-to-date estate plan more than ever regardless of […]
