Will they or won’t they…destroy the stock market? One theory making the rounds in the investment world is that, as a result of a combination of a mass movement from stocks to bonds and taking required minimum distributions, baby boomers will be huge stock sellers in the coming years, with devastating implications for the stock market. But how likely is…
If your vision for your retirement includes starting a business, one financing option is a ROBS – a Rollover as Business Startup, where funds from eligible retirement accounts are rolled over and invested into a new business (or used to buy an existing business). One major advantage of a ROBS? There’s no need to get loan approval. But one critical…
Exchange-traded funds are becoming an increasingly popular vehicle for accumulating assets for retirement. But what should be done with ETFs (which carry a certain degree of risk) as one moves into retirement (where risk aversion is the name of the game)? The author of today’s article notes that “your first instinct may be to edge away from volatility, but there’s…
“If you want to have an income-rich retirement, you’ve got to have a diversified basket of dividend stocks that will deliver both capital appreciation and income growth,” states the author of today’s article – and this assertion is backed up by a study that looked at the returns of S&P 500 stocks over a 33-year period. The author proceeds to…
“It doesn’t take brilliant investing to retire early as I did,” states the author of today’s article, a former software engineer who retired at age 50 despite making a number of investing blunders over the years – some of which involved tens of thousands of dollars. For his reflections on how he got to early retirement – including the big…
With high-dividend-yielding stocks feeling the pain as interest rates rise, the author of today’s article argues that, while older investors should not scale back on their dividend holdings, “the challenge is to pick the right dividend stocks and funds” – and the right dividend stocks and funds right now might not be the usual suspects! As such, she proceeds to…
In some (rare) positive retirement news, Wells Fargo’s 2016 retirement study found that the average 401(k) balance is at a new high – $92,000. So, with Americans looking to improve their financial futures and steering more dollars into their retirement accounts, how should they be investing these additional funds? In aggressive stock plans? Conservative bond funds? Low-cost index funds? To…
Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Nordstrom are among the companies that have been targets of a President Trump Twitter attack, and the share prices of the companies Trump goes after almost always drop in the immediate aftermath. But are there lasting effects? Today’s article looks at what the Wall Street Journal’s “Trump Target Index” – which tracks the post-attack performance of…
While many financial firms recommend that U.S. investors have some exposure to foreign stocks, that entails exposure to the currencies of the countries in question, and the author of today’s article notes “that means in addition to the stock’s performance, your total return will include the performance of the foreign currency translated into U.S. dollars.” With a strong dollar, this…
The author of today’s article believes that, with the outsized dividend yields and predictable sources of income the asset class offers, income from real estate investment trusts “should be part of the retirement process.” However, noting that a dividend cut could be devastating to retirees, he cautions that it is important to properly evaluate REIT assets. He proceeds to highlight…