Author Archives: David
Simpson and Bowles on Meet the Press
http://www.fixthedebt.org/blog/meet-the-press-alan-simpson-and-erskine-bowles-on-the-federal-debt_1 The video is a little long, but it’s well worth watching. Some straight up stuff from a pair of guys – Simpson and Bowles – who have nothing political to lose. And it’s refreshing to see how folks from the two parties *could* work together. There are no immediate financial planning implications, inasmuch as […]
A really nice blog post about how much (and what kind of) life insurance people need
http://www.chuckrylant.com/how-much-life-insurance/ In Chuck’s blog post, he talks about being “worth more dead than alive” – the context being that people often are sold more life insurance than they really need. Or the wrong kind of life insurance (in which case, they may not be worth more dead than alive, but may be worth more to […]
Buy Facebook? You may already have!
When Facebook (FB) went public, several folks immediately asked if they should buy it. My response was, uniformly, “no”. It was not that I thought FaceBook was overvalued (I did), not that I thought the price was going to drop soon (I did – IPOs frequently go down in the short term, and a spectacularly […]
Malkiel: Buy Stocks, not Bonds
Burton Malkiel has been speaking up a lot lately, and with much the same message – repeated several times over the last few months (at least since an op-ed back in April). While hitting on some of the same themes he’s hit on for 40 years (index funds, low costs, broad diversification, don’t time the […]
Higher borrowing for college
A worthwhile article. Like long-term care, the difficult burdens are on the middle and upper-middle class. The rich can simply afford to pay and the poor are more likely to get grants and/or go to less expensive schools (just as with long-term care, the rich can simply afford to pay and the poor go on […]
NYTimes – What some investors Are Doing To Anticipate Tax Increase
Nice article in NYTimes by Paul Sullivan. He talks about some of the specific tax increases that are on their way to happening (unless Congress and the Prez do something about them), and what some folks are doing to deal with it. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/your-money/taxes/what-some-investors-are-doing-to-anticipate-a-tax-increase.html?pagewanted=all The tax increases addressed: 1. The 3.8% “surtax” on investment income for […]
NYTimes Opinion: Our Ridiculous Approach To Retirement
Worth reading. Prof. GHILARDUCCI has been saying for years that the 401(k) system has failed and her arguments are sound. While abolishing them may not be the answer, her recommendation for mandatory contributions to retirement accounts may be part of a much better answer. People simply aren’t saving enough through 401(k)s and incremental changes – like […]
Ten most common mistakes
Totally worth reading. I’d have said exactly these same things and I tell them to clients all the time. So good I’m thinking of mailing this link in my next On The Spot email. http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/07/investors-10-most-common-mistakes/ A really great “top 10” list by Barry Ritholtz: Investors’ 10 most common mistakes I seriously recommend reading the whole […]
Real 10 year yields
From an article about adjusting assumptions for retirement withdrawal rates in a ‘yield-free’ world. http://www.advisorone.com/2012/06/27/retirement-in-a-yield-free-world?t=the-retiree The author makes some important points about the rule-of-thumb that so many use for planning the level of withdrawals that’s “safe” from a given portfolio (or flipping it around, the level of savings that will be necessary to […]
Sometimes it makes a huge difference if you Delay Social Security
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303561504577494600278284104.html?mod=personal_fin_newsreel> WSJ piece, not too much detail, but hints at a wealth of complexity and opportunity, regarding strategies for maximizing Social Security benefits. Mentions of Social Security Timing, a service to help folks figure out how to optimize. Great example: Consider a hypothetical situation. The husband, the higher earner, believes he’s going to die relatively […]
Meyers Wealth Management 