As I wrote to you yesterday, “How much Artificial Intelligence do you want in your portfolio? Your Survival Guy doesn’t want it anywhere near mine. But AI is already in the sports pages with a recent Ohio high school football recap written with the heart of a Tin Man. How much longer until we have ivory tower dwellers and woke politicians writing the rules for investments? What could possibly go wrong?” Here’s some more I’ve come up with. AI, I’m on a fixed income. Can you help? AI, I want a conservative mix of stocks. AI, I want a portfolio that is oriented to Main Street … [Read more...]
Are You Getting the Most Bang for Your Buck?
Your Survival Guy wants to arm you with an arsenal of questions you can ask your broker. Here’s one from April for you to keep in mind. UPDATE 4.4.23: Don't allow your savings to be swept into an account paying almost nothing in interest. Your Survival Guy writes this morning: Is your lazy cash sitting around eating all your Easter candy? Murdering Peeps and defenseless chocolate bunnies? Well, after this weekend, that needs to stop. No más. With Fidelity’s Treasury Money Market (FZFXX) yielding close to 4.5%, it’s time to get your lazy cash off the couch. A little spring cleaning, if you … [Read more...]
Follow the Money Kid
You know from Your Survival Guy’s Super States where you're treated with some respect rather than like a piggy bank. I like this piece from March as a refresher for us. If you want to know what’s going on in the world, just follow the money. That’s what I do. Take a look at the money exodus from states that treat residents like piggy banks. Remember, money travels to where it’s well treated. Just follow the money. Art Laffer and Stephen Moore, co-founders of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, share the numbers in this WSJ piece (abridged): Lawmakers in California, Illinois, New York and … [Read more...]
“It Cost What?” Here’s the Problem with Inflation
The problem with inflation is everyone's fighting it, which can be costly in the form of high fees, high risk, and lost opportunities. But the answer isn't so complicated. It's in the reflection on that shiny piece of precious metal: you. If you want to fight inflation, you can do it. Save more. Spend less. Inflation is nothing new. We've been living with it our entire lives. It has a seat at the table. It's talked about like we know it. "How much is a gallon of milk?" we ask. "Can you believe the price per gallon of gas?" we declare. And yet, inflation means different things to … [Read more...]
Successful Investors Plod to Everlasting Prosperity While Speculators…
I wrote this to you a few years ago. It begins with my father-in-law Dick Young. “Well, writing to you now, five decades later, from our outside kitchen/living space in the heart of Old Town, Key West, I can’t help but think how much water has gone under the bridge through the many decades,” wrote Dick Young to you in the June 2017 issue of Richard C. Young’s Intelligence Report. “But if you have been with me over the years, you are keenly aware that it is indeed the combination of dividends, compound interest, perspective and patience that frames the message I deliver to you month after … [Read more...]
Get Acquainted with Dick Young’s Investment North Star
There’s never been a better time to get acquainted with Dick Young’s investment North Star, the 90-day Treasury bill, which hasn't recorded yields this high in over twenty-two years. Backed by the full faith and credit pledge of the United States government, the T-bill is your risk-free rate of return. … [Read more...]
Getting Older Isn’t for the Faint of Heart
“All I can tell you it that it’s hard,” my father-in-law Dick Young told me. “Getting older means pretty much everything is harder. It’s not easy. And you need a team to help you. I’ve been advising investors since 1971 and can tell you, you don’t know what it feels like until you’re actually living it.” When I think about our conversations, it reminds me of the conversations I have with investors. They know how hard it is, too. They know what it feels like to live off their portfolio. We talk about ways to generate income. And yet, there’s always concern about the future. That’s natural. … [Read more...]
Money Should Be an Honest Measure
You work your entire life, saving until it hurts and putting away dollars bought with sweat and missed family time. Then, when you do finally get to retire, you look back on those dollars from thirty years ago, and they've lost an unexpectedly large amount of their value. In The Wall Street Journal, Judy Shelton, a monetary economist at the Independent Institute, discusses the systematic "debasing the value of the dollar" pursued by the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation goal, and argues that instead, "Money should be an honest measure." She writes: “All those who wish to stop the drift toward … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy Goes Back to College for Year 2
It was a typical Saturday morning, except Your Survival Guy was heading back to college to drop off my son for year two. What could be so hard about that, I thought. Four hours of assembling a couch and coffee table later, I’m here to say it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Now, for any of you who have a daughter and a son, you know the difference. There’s a difference between being packed and ready and being packed and ready. One of them, when you ask, “Are you packed?” is really packed, while the other is thinking he’s got this and will throw it all together, no problem. Your … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy at Fidelity and Your RMD Compliance
Originally posted April 21, 2023. Staying on top of your IRA RMD can be a hassle, especially with the IRS changing the start dates. The new one is age 73. As I wrote back on December 19, 2022, when I worked at Fidelity Investments in the mid-90s, I was at FIRSCO. What the heck is FIRSCO? Glad you asked. Because to enter the realm of Fidelity as an employee is to enter a world of acronyms you never knew existed. FIRSCO stands for Fidelity Investments Retirement Services Company. Imagine Fidelity as the military, and FIRSCO as a branch within it, and you get the idea. I was on a special … [Read more...]
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