Another habit of highly successful and fairly wealthy people is this: delegation. You didn’t get to where you are without a little help from your friends, staff, and loved ones. You learned habit #1, saving money, at an early enough age, and you saved til it hurt. You delegated that task. Did you set it and forget it? You didn’t forget. Not really. It was always on your mind. “Will we have enough to retire on?” you wondered. But it was basically on autopilot. Now, as you approach retirement (work for as long as you can, dear reader), there’s more to think about. You can’t afford to make a … [Read more...]
Your Survival Guy’s #1 Habit of Fairly Successful People
Your Survival Guy’s number one habit of fairly successful people is saving money. Done. Simple. Easy to understand. Hard to do. Because, like all habits, it can be hard, initially, that is, but then it’s quite a bit of fun. Compounding money—the eighth wonder of the world. Don’t just take Your Survival Guy’s advice; go back in time and ask Albert Einstein. Life’s lessons seem to be the same no matter when you are born. If you’re a saver, you have a good handle on risk. You don’t like it. It’s a bad four-letter word. You don’t like staring at the ceiling in the middle of the night, wondering … [Read more...]
“You Just Have to Be Willing to Move Defensively”
Happy Monday. A perfect day for some tough love. Your Survival Guy read an article over the weekend showing the savings and investments of some retirees. Here are their annual spend rates based on my back-of-a-napkin math: 12.6%, 15.8%, 10.5%, and 2.5%. The first three are terrifying. The fourth one’s OK. When Dick Young’s North Star (the 3-month T-bill rate) is at 4.652%, where do they think the returns are coming from? If you’re a highly successful person, you’ve developed Your Survival Guy’s favorite habit: Saving. Right there, in one word. You’ve learned to do without, to save ‘til … [Read more...]
If You’re a Highly Effective Person, We Should Talk
Happy Friday. It’s tax season. Unfortunately for mutual fund investors, this can be the time of year you realize your fund was down, but you still owe taxes. Because of its structure, a mutual fund puts you in the same boat as other investors. If some head for the exits, the manager is forced to liquidate positions to raise cash. Some of the positions he sells could be at a long-term gain creating a taxable event. It’s a lot like going out to dinner with ten of your college friends, and then two of them leave before helping with the bill. Not cool. When Vanguard founder Jack Bogle … [Read more...]
What’s Happening to Charles Schwab?
Remember, Charles Schwab operates as a bank too. One of the reasons I like doing business with Fidelity Investments is because it’s not a bank and because it is privately owned. It’s not under the gun to meet Wall Street’s quarterly estimates. It’s a family business. Justin Baer and Charley Grant report on Schwab's current predicament in The Wall Street Journal, writing: The downfall of SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, has sent investors rushing to look for other banks that have also lost deposits and are sitting on paper losses on their bondholdings. Schwab’s … [Read more...]
Prepare for the Predictable
Sometimes preparing for unpredictable events like hurricanes, wildfires, and blizzards is easier to do than preparing for the most predictable event of all, getting older. Right now, there are some people who would have a better chance at fighting off a zombie apocalypse than retiring in comfort. According to a new study by Fidelity Investments, 52% of American households will fall short of having enough money in retirement to cover the everyday essentials. Fox News's Breck Dumas reports: Americans' retirement preparedness has dropped and a majority of U.S. adults are now projected to not be … [Read more...]
Is Vanguard Voting Against Your Political Beliefs?
You’re not supposed to talk about religion or politics in the investment business. Your Survival Guy broke that rule on day one. I’ve always felt it’s important to know who you’re dealing with. The big firms try to play it right down the middle. They try to please everyone and no one at the same time. They don’t talk politics. Until now. And not on purpose. Let me explain. When the mutual fund industry rode index fees down to zero, they became victims of their own success. Suddenly, they needed a new way to skin the cat. Imagine the conference room discussions. “Bob, we need to get … [Read more...]
Call It the Difference between Normal and Crazy
In The Wall Street Journal, Judy Shelton explains the problems with the policies implemented by the Federal Reserve and the federal government over the last few years. She concludes: Normalization after the pandemic, however, might have fundamentally changed the landscape for lenders even as it confounded the Fed’s operating model. This may explain why financial conditions began improving in the last two months of 2022 despite the Fed’s tightening. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis notes: “Looking toward the future, it may be important to track the correlation of the … [Read more...]
Are You Fairly Wealthy? I’m Listening
Did you catch the Sunday New York Times article on the supper clubs in Palm Beach? Look, Your Survival Guy loves Palm Beach, especially lunch at the Brazilian Court, but a supper club? Sounds expensive. But wait a second. When I started running the numbers, I thought, “Self, it could actually work.” That is, if it’s the right one. You don’t have to be an uber-wealthy billionaire to have a nice life. Look for more supper clubs to show up, especially away from super high tax states. Welcome to Florida. OK, you really can’t make up these headlines. Pension funds rethinking private equity … [Read more...]
For Whom Is Your Portfolio Serving?
Pressure and prices are no friend of the Prudent Man. When there’s pressure for your portfolio to “do something,” then you’ve already lost the game. The same is true with prices. If you need prices to get to some level, then forget it. Pressure and prices? These are terms for the speculator. Someone Your Survival Guy has no interest in serving. But there is a brighter way forward. Once you focus on a portfolio built on patience, dividends, interest, and compounding, an entire world opens up to you. One in which you control your destiny and can rise above the fray. You know, trusting other … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- …
- 101
- Next Page »