In 1991, 35% of employees were participating in defined benefit pension plans. By 2005 that number had fallen to 21%. In March of 2018 only 17% of American employees had access to some sort of defined benefit pension plan. Companies are getting rid of their defined benefit pension plans, fast. If you rely on your company to save for you, it's time for a dose of reality, you must save for yourself, because no one else will. Pensioners from legacy companies Sears and Xerox are watching as their benefits are being stripped away. Around 100,000 pensioners from Sears are hoping the Pension … [Read more...]
Vanguard GNMA Anchor to Windward
When times are tough, Vanguard GNMA continues to pay income, much like it does when times are good. For me, GNMA is an anchor to windward no matter which way the wind is blowing. And even though Young Research, which provides research and analysis to investment advisor Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., recommends laddering U.S. Government and Corporate bonds, you could do a lot worse than owning some GNMA. … [Read more...]
A Disaster to Remember
At Yoursurvivalguy.com, I regularly warn you away from the novel, the trendy, and the unproven strategies that keep the Wall Street fee-machine cranking. I want you to survive the investing gauntlet, not to be chewed up by schemers or inept profiteers looking to take your money. Risky hedge funds, cryptocurrencies, and unsavory pension fund strategies are all traps I have encouraged you to avoid. If you've been investing over the last decade you have surely heard of Bernie Madoff and his scheme to defraud investors. But if you have been investing for a bit longer like me, you'll remember a … [Read more...]
The Truth Behind the S&P 500: Part VIII
I've written to you many times about the scary truth behind the S&P 500. The reality is, if you're buying a tracking fund, you're really putting your faith in the few stocks that dominate the value weighted index. Now that those big stocks are getting slapped with reality, the underbelly of index investing is being laid bare. Aimee Picchi, writing at CBS MoneyWatch calls it "the hidden bear market." She writes: No bull: More than two-thirds of the S&P 500's individual stocks are now either in a "correction" or a bear market. More than 350 companies out of the 500 tracked by the … [Read more...]
Thinking of Moving for Retirement? Check This Out
As elections come up, where we live and the political/governance climate there comes into sharper view. This piece I wrote on August 10, 2017 examines the tax climates of the states, and how retirees should make that a factor in their plans. Guess who needs the most of your dollars to survive? You guessed it, Washington D.C. If you're a retiree who has been living and working in Washington D.C. for your entire career, you would without a doubt stretch your dollars further if you moved to a less expensive locale. Washington D.C. is the most expensive place to live in the continental … [Read more...]
Retirement Benefits: They’re not all in Dollars
You may have noticed stocks are acting a little funny lately. Whether it’s scary October, midterms, or earnings, there’s always something to worry about. I’ll tell you, the phones have been pretty quiet from clients. Many are packing up for Florida, travelling in Paris, or enjoying the outdoors. For example, I received a picture emailed from my client at his fishing cabin in Alaska enjoying some freshly caught crabs, writing: “All retirement benefits are not in dollars. Thanks for the help making this happen. I’m the one holding the pot.” He’s retired. Stays off the grid three weeks at … [Read more...]
Making Money the Old Fashioned Way
You may be familiar with Ronald Read’s story. It’s a story worth telling over and over and over again to anyone you know. My father in law Dick Young wrote: Hard to even comprehend, but this great story, courtesy the WSJ‘s Anna Prior, recounts how Ronald Read accumulated an estate valued at almost $8 million. Mr. Read, who passed away at the age of 92, made a modest living pumping gas for many years at a Gulf gas station in Brattleboro, Vermont. A Five-Inch Stack of Stock Certificates How did Ronald Read manage to become a multi-millionaire? Mr. Read invested in dividend-paying blue-chip … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: A Dire Warning Part IV
Last week Facebook revealed a data breach affecting 30 million accounts and shares are down about 27% since July. These and other longer-term problems at Facebook have led several public pension funds to back a shareholder proposal to separate Mark Zuckerberg from at least one of his dual roles as CEO and Chairman of the board. The Wall Street Journal explains though that the problem for the petitioners is Mr. Zuckerberg's “lock on the bulk of Facebook’s supervoting shares, each of which gives him 10 times the votes of average shareholders. According to Facebook’s latest proxy, his share of … [Read more...]
Calper’s OPM
Turns out, members of California’s public pension don’t like it when the C-suite are activists with other people’s money. The workers expressed their dissatisfaction with pension-fund-activism by firing CEO Priya Mathur and replacing her with Jason Perez. New CEO Perez's main point of criticism against Mathur's approach was her focus on "environmental, social and governance investing," which is a euphemism for using the pension fund's money to play politics. Perez ran on a platform of refocusing the pension fund on "the agency’s fiduciary duty to maximize investor returns." Sound … [Read more...]
Don’t Stop Believing
Imagine sitting on the board of your favorite company, attending the next meeting, clearing your throat, and asking “How much are we going to increase the dividend this quarter?” Welcome to the company! Because that’s what it’s like to be an investor in a stock that cherishes its shareholders, its owners if you will, showing appreciation through regular dividends and dividend increases. It’s nice to be appreciated, especially when stocks are a little shaky. Getting paid to be in them helps. A lot. Which is why dividends are so important to every investor no matter their age or net … [Read more...]
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