Tag Archives: Vanguard

If You Have Cash, Should You Buy Stocks Now?

Posted on by

Over the last 15 years I’ve met several new retirees who are waking up to the poor condition of their portfolios. They saved and invested for years, often choosing mutual funds or annuities offered by employers, then changing jobs, picking new funds, and so on. At retirement they own a collection of high-cost accounts and an unplanned, hard to discern asset allocation. To fix things—plan an asset allocation and convert to low-cost investments—they have to sell old assets and buy new ones. They ask whether it’s better to do it all at once or string it out over weeks, months, or years? Continue reading →

Radical Retirement for the Kids

Posted on by

Retire early and fly away

Last time we saw Christy Shen and her husband, Bryce, living one version of a radical retirement: they retired in 2014 (Christy was 31 years old) after only a few years of work. Each year while working they saved more than half of their earnings. Can anyone do that, or were they just lucky to invest when returns were high? Continue reading →

Winning the Loser’s Game

Posted on by
Securities markets depend on markets for goods and services

Securities markets depend on markets for goods and services

Most of us enjoy movies, and there is a new one freely available on the Internet entitled, “How to Win the Loser’s Game.” If you have or want investments, this video is an excellent way to learn the essentials of investing. Fix some popcorn, open a soft drink and settle in front of your TV or computer. You will hear clear explanations of key ideas along with good interviews of people involved in creating modern investing.

Viewers can watch the film in one showing of 80 minutes, or in ten parts of varying length. The film comes from Britain, and the narrator has a pleasant British accent, adding perhaps a touch of class.

Continue reading →

A Winner: Passive Investing in 2014

Posted on by

$$-2

With the end of 2014, year-end investment returns are coming in, and two noteworthy results are these:

  • Passive investing, especially with Vanguard Group, continues to gain momentum
  • Passive investing, according to preliminary results, produced higher returns than many competing styles of investing.

Continue reading →

What the Big Guys Say about Risk at Retirement

Posted on by

S_13_197

What should your stock allocation be at your retirement date, or in different words, how much risk (variability) should you tolerate near and at retirement? I discussed this issue in a series of posts earlier this year (see links at end), and recently the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an article (paywall) about it.  Continue reading →

Make Money by Managing Investment Risks in Retirement

Posted on by
Managing your trip in a risky environment

Managing your trip in a risky environment

Risk is sometimes the elephant in the investing room, especially for retirees. People understand stocks as ownership and bonds as debt, but risk is hard to grasp and instinctively dangerous.

Later Living has recently published four posts on risk. Risk and high returns go together, so retirees who want high returns must deal with risk. Here are the four earlier posts knit together into one risk story: Continue reading →

Managing the Danger of Investment Risk at Retirement Time

Posted on by
Risk in stocks and bonds--Seventeen years of returns

Risk in stocks and bonds–Seventeen years of returns

When should someone retire? The answer may be fraught with danger if the retirement portfolio is overly weighted to stocks or other risky investments. There is one small window of time surrounding the retirement date in which sharp declines in stock values can ruin retirement. Continue reading →

How Boomers Can Get Along with Their Investments

Posted on by

In midcareer, people need to get along at work, and in retirement people must get along with their investments. At work in middle life, and with investments in retirement, getting along includes people, but it also involves the circumstances, tasks, and procedures in each setting.

Retirees can manage their own investments as they managed their work, but to do so, they should grow familiar with their assets, understand asset allocation and rebalancing, and keep a steady discipline concerning withdrawals.

One good way to gain confidence with managing a retirement portfolio is to work through a model program year-by-year. Continue reading →

Rounding Out Your Retirement Portfolio

Posted on by

Last week we added Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to a retirement portfolio, and this week we add international investments. The completed portfolio will now have domestic stocks, domestic bonds, REITs, and international stocks. Just these four investments can carry a retiree a long way into efficient, reasonably stable returns.

Why international investments? Diversification and growth are the best answers. Fifty years ago the United States dominated the world of investment opportunities, but today many countries have growing economies, well-run innovative companies, and good opportunities for investing. Continue reading →