Do you know how long you will live? Do you have enough money to make it? What does it take to reduce financial anxiety over retirement, once and for all? Sorry to be so blunt. Those are indeed scary questions. In fact, a recent survey by the Allianz insurance company found that 82% of respondents… Continue reading →

The fund being offered to Vanguard employees in their 401(k) plans is not a global fund. It focuses on U.S. stocks. But the point remains the same. As Malkiel has long argued, diversification is the only free lunch in finance. Diversification is an incredibly simple idea, yet so many investors miss out. Here it is… Continue reading →

It turns out that the wealth management secrets of the Ivy League aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. Bill Abt, a former beer company executive, got 6.2% returns on a portfolio he manages for Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. Over the same 10-year period, Harvard’s massive $37 billion endowment returned 4.4%. Yet Abt costs… Continue reading →

Workplace retirement plans get a lot of bad press, primarily small company plans loaded with high fees. But, truth be told, 401(k)s have been a boon to millions of Americans with access to them. In total, 55 million savers held $5.3 trillion in these plans at the end of 2017, according to industry data. Put… Continue reading →

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the chief regulator in charge of Wall Street, has a startling message for investors: “You’re on your own.” The SEC has just opened to public comments a potential change to how your stockbroker must operate. The only reason any action is being considered at all is because another government agency,… Continue reading →

During a recent quarterly market review call, we received the following question from a young man at the University of Texas: How much net worth separates the wealthy from the merely well off? It was a great question, albeit one that’s highly subjective. I think of somebody wealthy as having enough assets put away and… Continue reading →

A lot has been written about the “sandwich generation,” working adults under pressure to raise kids and care for aging parents — and probably forgoing their own financial needs to pull it off. To which women of just about any generation might say: Welcome to my world! Kara Stiles at Forbes wrote an excellent piece… Continue reading →

One of my clients, who is an older man, recently told me about a conversation he had with his daughter, who had just gotten married. A wedding is a special time and certainly a threshold toward a new and different life. Parents often try to impart one last bit of wisdom before their children fully… Continue reading →

Ever looked at the price labels on grocery store shelves? I mean really looked? Sure you have. Any good shopper knows that the big number is the price of the thing you want to buy, while the tiny number is the price per ounce, per pound, or some other unit. That way you can easily… Continue reading →