2 Reasons 2022 Challenged the 60/40 Portfolio Allocation Strategy
Starting out your investing journey, you may have been advised to follow the 60/40 allocation strategy. This strategy tells you to put 60% of your portfolio in equities and 40% in bonds or other fixed-income offerings. For decades, this strategy has been revered for its balance, offering high growth potential from stocks and a safety net in bonds.[1] The assumption was that stock and bond markets would not dip at the same time, mitigating risk and enabling long-term growth of investment accounts. However, the 2022 economy has brought the classic 60/40 allocation strategy into question as both the […]
Can You Turn Investment Losses Into Tax Gains?
When markets take a spill, especially when it comes to your retirement investments, it’s harder to find ways to meet your financial goals. If you were relying on IRA or 401(k) withdrawals to cover your expenses, doing so when markets are down would decrease the lifespan of your savings. And if you’re nearing retirement, market losses may provide cause to push back the time you enter retirement. While all these concerns are legitimate, there is a hidden benefit to selling your losing investments at a loss. Using a strategy called tax-loss harvesting, you can earn capital gains tax credits […]
Rediscovering the Value of Yields in Recessions
For decades, the name of the personal finances game has been an asset or equity growth. High-growth tech stocks grew to dominate the market, some of which have grown to be among the largest companies in the world. And if you owned stock in those companies while they made their meteoric rise, your overall wealth may have ballooned in the process. But how safe do you feel with your wealth in those stocks during a recession? Would you feel comfortable with a 5% drop right now? A 10% drop? Maybe even more? If such a drop is a significant […]
5 Unique Risks for the Affluent Investor
You may think that as a high-net-worth individual, or even a millionaire next door, you may have an easy road ahead in maintaining your wealth. But a greater amount of wealth to protect introduces unique challenges that are specific to the size of what they have to protect. Although many investing and wealth-preservation principles apply to anyone – such as developing a tax plan, assessing a portfolio’s risk exposure, and more – there are key risks to be aware of when you have more money and more valuable assets to protect. Being Too Conservative You may think that having […]
A Financial Advisor Can Prepare You for A Wintery Market
When the winter season comes around, you’ll likely have to adjust your routines and prepare for the cold. If you’re in colder states, you may be looking to purchase a new winter coat or snow boots, or skiing equipment for your winter holidays. Or you may be restocking your snow salt for what are soon-to-be icy sidewalks and driveways. If you live in warmer states, maybe you’ve closed your windows and patios and put your fans and AC units away. The same way you prepare for the winter, you might have to prepare your retirement finances for a potential […]
What Volatility Truly Means
Nowadays, the word “volatility” seems thrown around more than ever. Usually, when it comes to financial talk, “volatility” is used to describe a downward trend. But that’s not what volatility really means! Volatility is technically referring to large up and down swings in the market over short periods of time. It doesn’t just mean a downward trend. The Ups and the Downs It’s important to make sure your financial plan is protected against downward trends. When markets are smoothly climbing, it can seem as if there is little danger involved in holding risky assets in your retirement portfolio. But […]
Is Your IRA at Risk in This Market?
During bear markets, we must ask different questions about our money and our assets. It is no longer about which stocks will double over the next twelve months. Instead, it will likely be about how to preserve your portfolio value by investing in stable equities with a consistent yield or profitability to mitigate the risk of steep declines. Regardless, market downturns happen, and if you have an IRA, you might expect to rely on its distributions for income. However, taking distributions means you could risk cutting the lifespan of your portfolio if you withdraw during a market pullback. This […]
Why We Could See More Inflation and Market Volatility
As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, what happens somewhere halfway around the world can have a major impact on us. Now, the global economy faces new threats as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including spiking energy prices, inflation, and a volatile market. Know how you could be affected and what strategies you can pursue to help protect your savings. Are You Protected from Market Corrections? We’ve seen market volatility recently and could see more depending on what happens in Ukraine and what the Federal Reserve does. Oil prices are surging and could continue to rise as […]
Why We Could See More Inflation and Market Volatility
As we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, what happens somewhere halfway around the world can have a major impact on us. Now, the global economy faces new threats as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including spiking energy prices, inflation, and a volatile market. Know how you could be affected and what strategies you can pursue to help protect your savings. Are You Protected from Market Corrections? We’ve seen market volatility recently and could see more depending on what happens in Ukraine and what the Federal Reserve does. Oil prices are surging and could continue to rise as […]
How Do You Handle a Volatile Market?
Now that you’re nearing retirement, the term “market volatility” might stir up different feelings than it did 30 years ago. Older workers and retirees understand that they have less time to make up for losses in their investments and to ride out future market crashes than they did when they were younger. Leaving your financial well-being up to the whims of the market seems like less and less of a good idea as you get closer to retirement. So, what could cause market volatility, and how do you handle it? Federal Reserve, Interest Rates, and the Market The Federal […]
