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...]
Time Is Money: Are You Over 40?
You, my fairly wealthy, highly successful reader, learned a long time ago how to harness a most powerful force: t-i-m-e. You saved ‘til it hurt and put money away with the faith that you might be in a better spot down the road. And now, when you look back on it all, you think, “No way I want to do that again. Not sure how I even did it. Can we change the subject?” Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. But saving ‘til it hurts does something magical. It puts the most powerful force into action. You put time on your side. You become a compounding machine, and without even knowing the miracle … [Read more...]
A Simple Plan to Feel Better Tomorrow
The one way for you to beat inertia is to take action. We all have dreams about who we want to be and how we want to live, but actually doing something about it can be hard. Taking action is doing something. If you have money collecting dust in a low-interest-bearing bank account, consider opening an account with Fidelity. There’s a cornucopia of money funds to choose from. Fidelity’s Treasury Money Market, for example, yields about five percent. You can simply go to Fidelity.com, but don’t leave Your Survival Guy in such haste. Read my Top 10 Investing Mistakes to Avoid (and one bonus … [Read more...]
Don’t Let Your Money Turn to Dust in an Old 401(k)
If your money is collecting dust in an old 401(k), then consider doing an IRA rollover to Fidelity. It’s a non-taxable event, and you’ll be with my favored custodian. There’s a lot of money out there floating around. In The Wall Street Journal, Anne Tergesen reports that the number of 401(k) millionaires (those with at least $1 million in their 401(k)s) has increased by 25% this year. She writes: Some 378,000 retirement savers in Fidelity plans had seven-figure-plus balances as of June 30, up from 299,000 at the end of 2022. The number of IRA millionaires increased by a similar percentage … [Read more...]
Don’t Be Average, Be Better: Avoid This Mistake
You bet it’s an exciting time to be a fixed-income investor. But I’ve been telling you that for years. You don’t have to compound big numbers to be a successful fixed-income investor. You need to harness time and let the magic of compound interest do the heavy lifting. What never fails to amaze Your Survival Guy is how the average investor always wants more, more, more. When rates are at levels you can sink your teeth into with some peace of mind and comfort—look at treasuries—they reach for yields that are double that with terrible credit ratings. Good luck. Because it’s in times like … [Read more...]
The Worst Month for Housing Affordability This Century
Homebuyers are facing the worst conditions this century in regards to affordability. Lance Lambert reports in Fortune: On Monday, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate reached 7.48%, marking the highest level since the year 2000. Even prior to this recent surge in mortgage rates, housing affordability, as monitored by the Atlanta Fed, had already deteriorated beyond the levels seen at the housing bubble’s peak in 2006. Once this latest mortgage rate surge is factored in, August 2023 will become the worst month for housing affordability this century. Your Survival Guy's take: If you’re in … [Read more...]
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