What Are Three Things That Retirement Software Can’t Account For?
You’re getting ready to finally “retire”. We’ve run the numbers with you, looked at various calculations and determined when to begin Social Security. We looked at how your taxes will change, where that money will come from, and even how they will be paid. We’ve reviewed your allocation and strategy for portfolio income and how that fits into the plan. We told you that you are financially independent, that you won’t need to worry and you can enjoy this next chapter of life with full abandon.
But you’re still uneasy.
There is still something on your mind that’s worrying you. You’re comfortable with the financial aspects of this change, but you just aren’t sure how your life is going to look on the other side of this decision. > SEE MORE
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Waypoint Wealth Management
Playing The “Winner’s Game”
Each year, our Director of Research at the BAM Alliance, Larry Swedroe, unveils what he believes are some of the most important lessons of investing. This month’s Viewpoints will highlight three of our favorites from the list. The full list of nine lessons can be found here, and is well worth the time to read.
It was tough to choose only three, as they’re all insightful. But here are Waypoint’s favorite three (okay, four) lessons from last year:
- Active management is a loser’s game:
Ouch. This might sound harsh. But more and more people are becoming aware of the evidence against investing based on opinion. More investors each year are realizing the challenges for active managers to keep up with (and outperform) the markets, after fees and taxes. At Waypoint, we’ve learned that as well and came to a point in our careers where we had to put ego aside and truly measure returns against an evidence-based portfolio. This is when we realized the importance of playing the winner’s game.
- So much of returns comes in very short and unpredictable bursts:
There is simply no better lesson for staying invested during challenging times. > SEE MORE
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Waypoint Wealth Management
Markets: What’s Really Behind It All?
As we look back on a year filled with surprises (from its opening days onward), it’s natural to wonder what to expect in 2017. This is especially so, since most of those surprising events have yet to play out in full – from the political climate in the U.S., to the Brexit referendum in the U.K. to uncertainty in government bond and oil prices around the world.
We are reminded of a favorite quote from The Wall Street Journal personal financial columnist Jason Zweig, who once observed that “Wall Street often resembles a blindfolded person looking in a darkened closet for a pair of black shoes that isn’t there.”
Interestingly, Zweig made his comment back in October 2008, when we had yet to see the light at the end of a very dark financial tunnel. We think the sentiment fits nearly any global market and any market climate, including whatever 2017 has in store for us.
Instead of getting too hung up on the forecasts from pundits or prognosticators, let’s take a moment to pause and celebrate the truly remarkable life force that has long driven our financial markets: human enterprise.
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Waypoint Wealth Management
Post Election Reflections
Whether you’re feeling elated, deflated or mostly just jaded about what just happened in the U.S. elections, we wanted to reach out to you with a few thoughts related to the recent election. It’s possible that even President-elect Trump himself didn’t see this one coming, and so we wanted to provide some perspective from this important event.
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Waypoint Wealth Management
Heated Politics, and Thinking Beyond “Stage One”
It’s no surprise that this year’s U.S. presidential race has become a subject of conversation around the globe. And it’s probably a fair assumption that the intensity will only increase as the November 8 election date nears.
We are by no means implying that you should ignore what is going on in the world around you. Politics and politicians regularly and directly affect many aspects of our lives. But as you think through this year’s raucous race, remember this:
The more heated the politics, the more important it is to establish and maintain
a well-planned, long-term approach to managing your investments. > SEE MORE
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