FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
U.S. Debt - Can We Fix A $30 Trillion Problem?
Since 2008, US debt as a percentage of GDP has ballooned from 40% to nearly 100% - the highest levels we have seen since the end of WWII when the US issued all those War Bonds.
While the debt levels in the country are a tremendous concern, there are two larger themes at play that give us some hope for the future…
Potential Pitfalls In Bond Investing
Clients of mine know that we tilt heavily toward low-cost broadly diversified index funds to build portfolios. This has historically produced far better returns than using higher fee active fund managers to try to outperform the market.
However, there are a few areas of the market where we believe good active managers can outperform the index simply due to the flaws in how that index is made. One of those indexes is the bond market…
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…