FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
How To Set Up Sinking Funds
One of the most difficult parts about sticking to a savings plan is that no month looks the same. It’s easy to budget for fixed expenses like your mortgage, phone bill, and subscriptions. With time, you can estimate some variable expenses like eating out and groceries.
But it is much more difficult to plan for irregular expenses like out-of-pocket health care expenses, replacing an HVAC, a big vacation, or a broken transmission…
Why Your Social Security Statement Is Probably Wrong
“These personalized estimates are based on your earnings to date and assume you continue to earn $XXX,XXX per year until you start your benefit.”
When you receive your Social Security estimate, it assumes you will work until you collect benefits, and that is not always the case…
Is Social Security Running Out?
Will there be anything left when I retire? Will my benefit get cut? These are some of the most frequent questions I get when it comes to someone’s retirement plan.
And the media loves to talk about the Social Security problems. Fortunately, there is data to answer these questions…
10-Year Market Outlook
Because of the variability of stock market returns in the short run, I steer clients away from short-term tactical changes to their portfolio and prefer to rely on the weighty evidence of history, along with long-term thematic trends in the market.
While no one has consistently and accurately predicted what the stock market is going to do, several well-respected firms provide long-term outlooks that have proven to be more accurate than short-term predictions…
Is Hyperinflation Coming?
A few weeks ago, on the heels of the highest inflation reading in 30 years (5.9%), Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and Square, tweeted the following -
“Hyperinflation is going to change everything. It’s happening.”
It instantly sparked a lot of concern, and then debate. Exactly what is “hyperinflation” and are we heading toward it?
Do Lenders Really Know How Much Home You Can Afford?
“A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain” - Mark Twain
Individuals in the process of buying a home with financing usually get a “maximum loan amount” from the bank. Some assume this is a reasonable estimate for what they can actually afford…