Despite a number of anxiety-inducing market routs, stocks have performed quite nicely this year. That impressive performance, however, brings with it some potential problems for investors, including off-balance portfolios and taxes on gains. As the author of today’s article notes, “a lofty market environment presents a lot of potential tax traps, as the appreciated winners in a portfolio that are…
The expectation in some circles is that emerging markets will be the only category of equities that will generate a significant return above inflation over the next 7 to 10 years. Given this, retirees may be tempted to allocate a sizable chunk of their portfolio to emerging market equities. Today’s article, however, outlines why retirees may be well-served to reconsider…
The retirement financing strategy highlighted in today’s article is sometimes referred to as “safety first” – a notion that may be taking on even greater importance for retirement savers in light of recent market gyrations. The strategy in question is the “floor-and-upside” strategy, where “the basic idea…is that a retiree devotes some of her retirement funding assets to building a…
It can have a dramatic impact on your retirement – and, unfortunately, it is largely out of your control. We’re talking about the market’s sequence of returns leading up to – and throughout – your golden years. The author of today’s article illustrates the impact that differing sequence of returns can have on the equity portion of one’s portfolio and,…
In 2013 the author of today’s article made a move that was considered irresponsible at the time and added bitcoin to the alternative investment portion of his retirement account. He then proceeded to lose half of his investment in an ensuing price drop – and called “stupid” for this investment blunder. However, he held onto his position in bitcoin and…
“Is there a hybrid solution that can give you some of the lifetime income of an annuity, while offering the inflation protection and principal availability of an investment portfolio?” This is the question that the author of today’s article poses before examining one possible option in that regard: managed-payout funds. After delving into the managed-payout funds (and related investment products)…
Despite renewed strength in – and interest in owning – gold, the author of today’s article believes that few people have a good understanding of why the precious metal behaves the way it does – and thus what role (if any) it has to play in an investment portfolio. As such, he proceeds to examine the case for and against…
There are over 8,000 mutual funds and the average participant in a workplace retirement plan has 28 investment options to choose from. However, the author of today’s article advises that “you can create a smart, diversified portfolio with just a handful of mutual funds” – and she proceeds to highlight some model “lazy portfolios” to do just that. To learn…