Dear Financial Advisor: Why Is My Portfolio Doing So Badly?

From: www.thestreet.com

That’s a question many investment advisors are hearing these days when they dare to answer the phone.

Understandably, the investor sees the stock market reaching new highs, then they look at their portfolios and see either no gains, or a gain considerably lower than the one posted by the stock market. Indeed, the S&P…

How to define your investing goals

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

Whether you’re new to investing or a bit more experienced, you probably already know there isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy for building a strong portfolio. Everyone’s needs and goals are a little different, and before you make investment decisions, it’s important to honestly review your situation.

Ready to start planning? Here’s what to consider as you work towards…

Are you ready for the great wealth transfer?

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

As baby boomers officially enter their golden years of retirement, their Generation X and millennial offspring stand to inherit trillions of dollars in total combined assets, according to many financial estimates.

How should each generation prepare for this historic transfer of wealth?

Baby Boomers: Set Expectations

Whether they have a substantial legacy to leave behind…

Why you should ignore the Dow

From: www.cnn.com

What’s the best way to measure the market? CNN’s Jon Sarlin explains why the Dow is outdated and doesn’t actually reflect what’s happening with stocks, much less the economy.

Top 10 Financial Tips – Set Yourself Up for Financial Success

From: blog.planetoffinance.com

If there is one thing that stresses almost everyone it’s money. It seems as though there are constantly bills to pay and the hours you work aren’t always turning out the way you hoped. So, what can you do? Don’t worry because financial success isn’t as elusive as you might think. In this article, we are going to look…

What should your emergency fund look like?

From: REAP, LLC. | Retirement & Estate Advisors & Professionals

Building financial security means sticking to a smart strategy and thinking ahead. Success comes from spending less than you earn, investing wisely and protecting against unforeseen challenges, and to be truly prepared, you should probably have an emergency fund. 

Here’s how and why an emergency fund could save the day, no matter your situation or income…

The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns

From: Callan

The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns conveys the strong case for diversification across asset classes (stocks vs bonds), investment styles (growth vs value), capitalizations (large vs small), and equity markets (U.S. vs non-U.S.). The Table highlights the uncertainty inherent in all capital markets. Rankings change every year. Also noteworthy is the difference between absolute and relative performance, as returns for the top-performing asset class…

4 million-dollar investing myths you need to stop believing

From: www.marketwatch.com

Don’t cheat yourself out of long-term returns

I’m continually amazed at the investment misconceptions that lure people into cheating themselves out of long-term returns.

Some are little more than plausible-sounding rules of thumb passed from person to person without much careful thinking taking place.

Let’s look “under the hood” at four examples.

These million-dollar investing myths prompt investors to effectively rob themselves of hundreds of…

The Importance of Income & Diversification

From: MFS

Chasing yield and return in your fixed income investments whether it’s before taxes or based on tax equivalent yields could leave your portfolio overly correlated to stocks.

The following chart shows five-year monthly correlations and yields of fixed income categories compared to the S&P 500 as of 6/30/18.