Planning for Medicare – Part Deux
The new 2012 Medicare & You booklets have been mailed and Medicare eligibles are receiving mailings from insurers daily about their products. This booklet contains over 150 pages of details about Medicare and the related Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans. Here are some of the key things to consider when choosing coverage for 2012: Medicare […]
Social Security and Medicare Decisions on the Horizon for Baby Boomers
Two of the biggest concerns for aging baby boomers are longevity risk (i.e., not outliving your money) and rising healthcare costs. Social Security and Medicare are programs that we all pay into and expect to partially address these concerns. Social Security is often a cornerstone of a well thought-out retirement plan. It is adjusted for […]
Five Reasons You Should Not Panic in the Face of Market Volatility
1. It is not really “different this time.” Vanguard, in a recent study entitled “Stock Market Volatility: Extraordinary or ‘Ordinary’?”, concludes that recent volatility appears extraordinary compared to the relative calm of the markets in 2010, but is in fact “ordinary” when compared to similar periods characterized by major global macro events – they cite […]
Market Analysis
Renewed fears of a double-dip recession, policy paralysis across the U.S. and Europe, and the looming threat of a financial crisis in the euro zone combined to create very volatile markets and a devastating quarter for equities. Equity Markets The third quarter of 2011 saw the value of small stocks and international stocks fall more […]
Evaluating Your Social Security Options
As retirement age approaches many questions arise about Social Security including the following: Should I start drawing benefits as soon as possible or postpone? If I do postpone, how long should I wait? If I am married or divorced, how can that impact my decision? When will I “breakeven” on my decision to postpone? Rules […]
Planning for Medicare
Why would an investment advisor’s website contain a blog about Medicare? The cost of health care is an increasingly important piece of retirement planning, and it is a shock to many who have been covered under an employer plan that is often subsidized by the employer, sometimes at 100%. Most employers either reduce the subsidy […]
Retirement Income Strategies
I was recently challenged by an investor couple attempting to determine the amount of annual spending they can make based on their portfolio. How, they asked, can we make a rational decision when we do not know the future return in investment markets, the future rate of inflation or their life expectancy? My general rule […]
More on Portfolio Inflation Strategies
\A May 2011 lengthy article by Gahagan and Martin, suggests a modest, permanent allocation to inflation-hedging -assets , such as TIPS, commodity futures, and REITs. The interesting part of the article is a discussion of how different inflation-hedging assets perform across the inflation cycle. For example, TIPS perform best in an inflationary period of less […]
Hedging Inflation: Comparing Commodity Futures and TIPs
I have generally recommended the use of Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPs) as a hedge against inflation. Are Commodity Futures an attractive inflation hedge similar to TIPs? In a March 2011 article, author Geetesh Bhardwaj, addresses the use of various investments as a hedge against unexpected inflation. (Let me know if you would like a […]
What Everybody Ought to Know About Dividend Paying Stocks
All too often lately, I have heard people talking about their individual stock holdings and the income they are providing them in retirement. They love mentioning how they are receiving quarterly income from these companies regardless if the stock market is trending up or down. The stockbrokers refer to this as the “get paid while […]