Have you heard the phrases retirement income, cash-flow investing or creating a retirement paycheck? These types of phrases are buzzing in the investing industry. There has been a shift from buying and holding stock to buying investments that can generate income for your portfolio.
Run the Numbers
Fewer than half of Americans have calculated how much they need to save for retirement. Even though we are consistently prodded with advertisements and resources urging us to estimate how much we will need. Americans are still choosing to ignore the advice of financial experts.
Emotional Risk?
You will often hear that investors are worried about the risks associated with investments. They are concerned about inflation risk, market risk, and liquidity risk. There is one type of risk that should be a major concern for you, but it is often ignored. Are you concerned about emotional risk? The risk that you make investment decisions based on fear, greed, or worse, doing what everyone else is doing.
Are you in charge?
I recently received a phone call from a client asking about our refresher courses for the Snider Investment Method. She took the Snider Method with her husband years ago, but her husband ended up doing all of the trading and record-keeping. He recently became ill and she will now have to take on the responsibility of taking care of their financial house.
Spring Cleaning
The first day of spring began this week and your financial house could probably use some spring cleaning. Now that we have finally recovered from the holidays, the spring is a great time to evaluate your finances and to check your progress to determine if you are on track to reach your financial goals in 2012. Here are few items to consider reviewing.
Understanding the Rights of Option Buyers
Options are the bread and butter of the Snider Method. If you are a Snider Method Alumni, you most likely have a solid understanding of the reasoning why we sell options, but you are probably less familiar with the strategy of those who buy options. Recently, I have received more questions than normal about the rights of those who buy options and how they work. I will address a few of the most frequently asked questions.
Time to hit the books
“You can blame the corrupt markets, evil hedge funds, or the big bad banks for your financial woes. You can even blame yours truly. Off-loading the blame may feel good at the time but it’s not going to build up your IRA or send your kids to college. Your finances are your responsibility and the best way to protect and grow your money isn’t a hot stock tip; it’s education.” I recently read this in an article on Breakout, a financial blog located on Yahoo.com and I couldn’t agree more.
The Graduate
Ogden Nash once said, “Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you set about retiring them.” As the year comes to a close, the graduating class of 2011 will experience the not so fun part of debt as they begin the repayment period of their student loans. The six month grace period that they received after graduating will end this November, and they will be forced to begin making payments on the debt that they acquired over the last four or more years of school. Many graduates are worried about their ability to repay the balance of their loans.
This Year’s Resolutions
What is going to be on your New Year’s Resolution list this year? As 2011 comes to a close, you are probably beginning to work on a list of goals that you want to accomplish next year. If you’re like most, you probably will resolve to become healthier in 2012, but have you considered bettering your financial health this coming year?
It’s that time of year…
As the holiday season quickly approaches, it’s important to prepare yourself for all the costly expenses that come with spreading Christmas cheer. Here are a few helpful tips that may keep you from going overboard this season.
