Those of you who read my blogs know that my wife and I have been fervently house hunting so we can have a place of our own. Well, about three weeks ago, we placed an offer and had it accepted in a perfect location! Finally, we were going to be settling in and be able to resume some sense of normalcy! Well, almost. Continue reading “Lessons to Learn from a Home Purchase Fallout”
One of the questions I ask the attendees of my workshops is, “Where do you think interest rates will be going in the future?” The overwhelming majority state that they feel rates are going nowhere but up. Now, I certainly appreciate that there could be an outside chance that rates may dip from where they are, but that is not as likely as rates going up (in my humble opinion). So, if in fact we are moving to higher rates, what are some things you can do now to take advantage of the current rate environment? Check out the tips below to see if any of these apply. Note: while they may seem like a “no-brainer,” it’s those types of actions that we often don’t take. Continue reading “When Short Term Interest Rates Rise – What Should I Do?”
Now that my wife and I have, for the most part, settled in our new hometown of Chicago, I have decided that my vacation from working out is officially over. So last week I actually completed my first full week of the P-90X workout (haven’t joined a gym yet). I must tell you that in some of the workouts, yoga and kenpo for example, I felt like an absolute klutz! That got me to thinking about how many people might feel when they want to learn about investing on their own for the first time. The good news is that like learning yoga (and kenpo), with time, continued education and practice, you will become more confident in your investing. With that, take a look at these tips to get you started in the wonderful world of investing. Continue reading “How Do I Start to Educate Myself About Investing?”
If I had a dime for every time I heard this question – I would have a lot of dimes! This is actually one of those questions I feel shows that an investor has entered the introspective phase of their investing life. The good news here is that the sooner you can answer this question, the quicker you can get on with the business of putting your money to work for you! Continue reading “Should I Manage My Investment Account or Use a Financial Advisor?”
The other day, I have to confess, I was in a very sour mood as I just found out my flight had been delayed (that never happens right?) and I was not going to be home for THREE HOURS. Why did this bug me so much? My wife and I were scheduled to look at some homes as we are still in limbo relocating from California to Chicago. So this three hour delay cost me the ability to view some possible locations and extended our time horizon of not having a home by at least another week. The only redeeming factor here is that this delay was out of my control. Continue reading “What Will it Cost if You Delay Saving for Retirement?”
A question I seem to be getting lately is how I can hedge my bond investments against a rise in interest rates. For most investors, a diversified portfolio will hold either individual bonds or more often than not, bond mutual funds. Where the dilemma exists is that in general when interest rates rise the current value of bonds goes down. Now for those investors who hold individual bonds, as long as the bonds are held to their respective maturities the loss of value will be on paper only. But what happens in a bond fund where there are many different bonds with different maturities? Let’s take a look at what often happens: Continue reading “What Should I Consider for My Bond Funds if Interest Rates Rise?”
A couple weeks ago I touched on some of the reasons why an investor might consider using Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) in their investment portfolio, so this week I will take a look at some common mistakes that people make investing in ETFs.
If you have ever heard the adage “your greatest strength can be your weakness as well,” then you will see why the following mistakes can creep up on an ETF investor if they are not aware of them. Continue reading “Should I Consider ETFs in My Portfolio?”
I was doing some workshops for a group of pre-retirees (talk about envy!) and we were going over a lot of the basic questions that group often has, how do I know if I have enough money, how do I plan for medical costs, what should I do about my investment allocations, etc. But the question that seemed to generate a lot of interest was if there were any strategies surrounding taking the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD). The strategies listed below can help you be more efficient in deciding which dollars you should consider using to pay your RMD. Continue reading “What Should I Consider When Taking My RMD?”
Lately in my live workshops I have been getting these two questions, “What are ETFs?” and “Should I consider them for added diversification?” These are good questions and tell me more people are educating themselves about different financial instruments and that they want to know whether something makes sense for “them” and not blindly investing because everyone else at the office is what I affectionately call “lemming investing.” So let’s see if I can shed a bit of light on the two aforementioned queries. Continue reading “Should I Consider ETFs in My Portfolio?”
The other day I was spending some quality time with a very good friend of mine, enjoying the nice spring weather and having a great time talking about various topics, when as often happens the cell phone rings. After seeing who it was, my friend decided to answer it, gesturing that it would be a short call. Prescient she wasn’t as it turned out to be not only a long call but emotional as well. Now I’m not one to engage in the art of eavesdropping but in this call I did not have to. Continue reading “What are the Minimum Documents I Need for a Basic Estate Plan?”
For those of you who follow my recent posts, you are probably aware that my wife and I are re-locating to another state; in fact as I write this the movers are boxing up our possessions and will be loading up the moving van tomorrow. Well I have to tell you, there is finality when you see your worldly goods packed in boxes by strangers! What isn’t final (yet) is where my wife and I are going to call our new home. Continue reading “Should I Rent or Buy?”
I love delving into different financial articles because, if nothing else, it provides me with new educational tools I can utilize in workshops and one-on-one conversations. But the other thing it provides me is entertainment. It is rare that an article can feed both. I was lucky enough to find one that really grabbed me. Continue reading “How Can My Avatar Help My Retirement?”
I was reading something the other day about how moving is one of the most stressful things in life. Well whoever wrote that must have known a thing or two because my wife and I are going through the process right now. For me probably the most stressful part of moving isn’t the act itself, it’s where I’m moving to. I have lived in California my whole life and through no fault of my own (my wife went and got herself a promotion – the audacity!) we are being re-located to a bustling Midwest state. Continue reading “How Do I Decide Which Condominium to Buy?”
With the unfortunate events that have befallen most recently Japan and Haiti a year ago, many people are choosing to dig deep in their pockets to donate cash to help in whatever way they can. The reasons why we donate can be quite different but one thing is consistent, we want to know that our donation is going to first, the organization that we choose, and second, the people who will benefit. So what should we be aware of before we send our hard earned cash? Continue reading “How Do I Know My Donation is Getting Where I Want it to Go?”
Well you knew I would be broaching this topic at some point. In many years of financial planning I have seen numerous situations which made me sad, and which inevitably led to me becoming a financial educator. Some of the most searing memories, and sad to say happened all too frequently, were of widows who were in the dark as to what their financial condition was. Continue reading “Financial Planning: When a Spouse Passes – How to Stay Out of the Dark”
There are questions in life where sometimes the best answer is “it depends” (how many times did we hear that when we were growing up?). This is one of those questions, but I do have some solid guidelines that can help you make a decision on this question.
First, take a hard look at the interest rates you’re currently paying on your debt as well as what you are getting on your savings accounts. In most cases Continue reading “Should I Pay Down My Debt or Save More for the Future?”
It seems that every retirement planning workshop I do lately, this question rears its head. Used to be not too long ago many people didn’t know what a reverse mortgage even was (Quick definition of a Reverse Mortgage: A special type of home equity loan for persons 62 and older. The loan proceeds can be in the form of a lump sum, cash advance, or a line of credit. The loan does not usually have to be repaid during the homeowner’s lifetime, which is why it is often used by retirees.) Now that people are aware of this investment product, it has suddenly started becoming a first choice answer to retirement security for some people. Continue reading “Is a Reverse Mortgage Right for Me?”
Well this blog closes out my “series” on investment property and I find it fitting that I share some of the frustrations, missteps as well as some of the successes we have encountered in our first investment deal. Now I have to let you know that this is only our experience and what my wife and I went through is certainly not always the case, but if I can pass on some things we have learned so that you can be aware then this blog will serve its purpose. If not, well at least it gave me an opportunity to hone my writing skills! Continue reading “I Just Bought My First Investment Property, What Should I Watch Out For?”
The past couple weeks have been a flashback in time for me as I have been providing some basic general principles regarding the purchase of investment property. What I’d like to do this week is to tell you a story about a certain financial professional and his wonderful wife and the lovely discussions they had before they pulled the trigger and bought an investment property.
It was a pleasant time back in those days, two newly married professionals having dinner conversations surrounding things like vacations, the day’s work, retirement, etc. Continue reading “What and When to Buy – How We Decided to Purchase Our Rental Property”
Last week I tackled the question of what to consider before buying investment property and whether or not it could be right for YOU. You may also recall that I stated that the actual property to buy was not necessarily a major driver of the decision – initially.
That said, the property you decide upon becomes a very important piece once you have made the decision to buy. Some things to consider (in order of importance) before signing the purchase contract are: Continue reading “So You’ve Decided to Buy Investment Property, Great! Now How Do You Decide Which Property to Buy?”
