The 4 percent rule says that a traditional retiree can withdraw 4% a year from a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds without running out of money for 30 years. But there are many potential scenarios in which the rule comes up short. The Wall Street Journal suggested three ways in which retirees can boost the odds of a portfolio outliving them.
The New York Times reported the story of a woman who suddenly lost her husband and spent countless hours tracking down financial accounts and urges people to get their acts together on her website. I recall writing a post on this topic when dealing with the estate of a family member who had passed away.
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the news for setting multiple new highs since 2007, Larry Swedroe says his message remains the same: just stick to your plan.
The Economist weighed in on the Dow Jones milestone by saying that the best that can be said for stocks now is that they look better than the alternatives such as cash and bonds.
In client meetings held across the country, Steadyhand’s Tom Bradley discussed what he expects from the markets in the near future. It is interesting to note that Tom is overweighting cash within fixed income and foreign equities within stocks. The entire presentation is available here.
Unlike large capitalization stocks that make up the Dow Jones index, small cap stocks are setting all time highs. Some market watchers are saying that the period of small cap outperformance that started in the year 2000 may soon be over.
Ellen Roseman pointed out that one can save on tires by shopping online. Perhaps, but I’ve found that my local Costco often has the same or cheaper pricing on tires.
It is just a trickle now but The Atlantic magazine says that a surprising new trend called insourcing — manufacturing jobs coming back to high labour cost geographies — appears to be gathering steam.
In an interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett said that Main Street investors can get their “fair shake” on Wall Street by buying very low cost index funds and hanging on for 20 or 30 or 40 years.
In an article on ETFGuide.com, John Bogle defends his view that while exchange-traded funds can be used wisely, the record shows that they are significantly more likely to be used for speculation.
