Social Security
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Reviewing Stock Market Valuation Indicators
One reason I’ve greatly reduced the time spent listening to the financial cable channels is that guests and hosts make a lot of statements that aren’t backed by or even are contradicted by data. Consider arguments about what influences stock prices. On any day you’ll find a range of people who say stock prices follow […]
Fixing Social Security Mistakes
Most people start receiving Social Security benefits at the wrong time. Beginning Social Security retirement benefits early can cost you and your family tens of thousands of dollars of income compounded over your lifetimes. A significant percentage begins receiving benefits when they first are eligible at age 62. Only a small percentage waits until age […]
Expanding the Roth IRA Opportunity
Roth IRAs remain one of the most neglected tax and financial planning opportunities. Even many of those who convert their traditional IRAs to Roths don’t take advantage of all the strategies available to maximize tax-free wealth. It’s understandable that people are slow to convert their traditional IRAs to Roths. There are many factors to evaluate […]
March 2014
March 28, 2014 04:14 p.m. Your Retirement Finance Week in Review Periods of low volatility in the markets often are followed by periods of high volatility. Stock market volatility in 2013 was low, and it’s been followed by a lot of volatility in the first quarter of 2014. But the volatility has taken investors on […]
The Best Stock Market Indicator?
Investors search for the ideal indicator or signal that tells them when to change their investment portfolios. Here’s the latest candidate, from the blog Philosophical Economics. It’s not a traditional market indicator at all and doesn’t even use any of the traditional stock market metrics. The indicator is the ratio of the total amount of […]
A Lesson in Stock Market Signals
The major stock indexes had negative returns for January. That presents a good opportunity to review market indicators and how not to use them. A well-regarded and -known indicator is the January signal or January barometer. It is what many investors look for: A simple, straightforward indicator that requires little analysis and has a solid […]
The True Costs of Working in Retirement
More and more people say that they plan to work in “retirement.” A growing minority say they will never retire. I’m not opposed to that. There are good reasons to continue working after age 65 or any other age, even if it’s not full time work. Some people need the money. A few extra years […]
It’s What’s Priced Into the Stock Market that Counts
Periodically I try to make the point that forecasting the economy or an investment doesn’t matter unless you make the forecast both accurately and before it is priced in to the markets. Sometimes markets are surprised by events or changes. Other times markets are ahead of the curve, so the actual events don’t stir markets. […]
