Search
-
Seeking Diamonds in the Rough for 2018
(Main Content/blog)
... The Dogs of the Dow are the 10 highest yielding Dow Jones Industrial stocks as of the end of the year. Since yield equals dividend relative to price, the Dogs not only pay a high amount of income, but ...
-
Do You Need Longevity Insurance?
(Main Content/blog)
... insurance is designed to provide guaranteed income from the time you reach old age—usually around 85—to the time you die. The thinking is that by age 85, your savings may be depleted. The appeal of longevity ...
-
How to Get (and Stay) on Track for Retirement
(Main Content/blog)
... for retirement merits the extra effort. Investors should sit down around now and take a close look at how much money they're making. They also need to understand how much of their income—after taxes, ...
-
When That High Yield is a Trap
(Main Content/blog)
... So when income-hungry investors find a stock or bond with an exceptional yield, they understandably want to pounce. But reaching for yield can backfire if stock or a bond has underlying concerns. And ...
-
Opportunities But Also Risks in High-Yield Bonds
(Main Content/blog)
... can be a welcome source of both income and capital appreciation at a time when both of those things are hard to find. But the tradeoff is a willingness to accept more risk. To increase your likelihood ...
-
Improve Your Financial Health in 2016
(Main Content/blog)
... monthly debt payments, including cards, car loans and mortgage payments, should be below 36% of your pre-tax income. The less the better. Rein in Spending. There's a reason cars have fuel gauges: ...
-
An End-of-Year Financial Checklist
(Main Content/blog)
... that you sell for a $1,000 profit. You can use up to $3,000 a year in losses to cancel out gains on investment or ordinary income and roll over unused losses to future years. Be charitable but smart. ...
-
How Much Should You Save For Retirement?
(Main Content/blog)
... have to do to get there. Here's my process: Determine retirement income needs. To figure out how much monthly income a person or couple will need in retirement, I start with their current living expenses, ...
-
Don't Time the Market
(Main Content/blog)
... could end up in a much smaller house than you'd planned. Short-term funds should be kept in a safe vehicle such as a money-market fund or short-term fixed income, even if it's earning minimal interest. ...
-
The Best Ways to Take Required Minimum Distributions
(Main Content/blog)
... are taxed at your ordinary income rate. It can be painful to pay those taxes. But it's even more painful if you fail to take your RMDs, in the correct amounts, on time: In such cases, the amount you ...
-
Beware of the Bond Bears
(Main Content/blog)
... of the best fixed-income opportunities can be found in these categories: Short-duration, high-yield, asset-backed bonds Non-agency mortgage backed securities Insured, high-yield municipal debt ...
-
A Checklist That Could Save You Thousands
(Main Content/blog)
... tax bill. There are several good online calculators available (here's one and here's another) to help you determine what you'll owe based on factors like your income, deductions and payments. Once you ...
-
The Real Election Winners
(Main Content/blog)
... of any sort. Stay on course with your investment plan, and make sure your portfolio is properly balanced to reap the potential gains in the stock and fixed-income markets. Don't forget that the right ...
-
High-Yield Bonds: Attractive But Increasingly Dangerous
(Main Content/blog)
Over the past few years, the high-yield fixed-income market has been one of the few places where investors could find healthy yields. But if interest rates rise as expected, the high-yield space will quickly ...
-
Annuities or an Income Portfolio?
(Main Content/blog)
Many retirement-age clients have asked me for my view of annuities as a vehicle for converting their savings into a lifetime income stream. My view is that, while specific annuities may be part of the ...
-
Time to Lock in Gains?
(Main Content/blog)
... your portfolio hasn't been rebalanced lately, now is a good time to come in and look it over with us. Since our stock- and fixed-income investments have both done well for quite a while now, it's appropriate ...
-
A Simple Way to Earn More From Your Investments
(Main Content/blog)
... top of the regular tax you pay on investment income. The good news is that you can take specific steps right now to limit your tax bill. One is tax-loss selling. Tax-loss selling involves selling losing ...
-
Insured Municipal Bonds Starting to Look Attractive
(Main Content/blog)
... there is never a guarantee that a company won't fail. But choosing bonds carefully and knowing they're backed by a healthy insurer should help you sleep well while earning income at a good clip. ...
-
Does Longevity Insurance Make Sense?
(Main Content/blog)
... is designed to provide guaranteed income from the time you reach old age—usually around 85—to the time you die. The thinking is that by age 85, your savings may be depleted. The appeal of longevity insurance ...
-
Avoiding the Rising-Rate Wrecking Ball
(Main Content/blog)
... that the liquidity factor will come into play for the foreseeable future. And if income and cash flow is an investor's main objective, non-agency RMBS fit the bill. High-Yield Bonds. High-yield bonds ...