The most recent numbers on aging indicate that a lot more of us will reach 100 years of age than we suspect.
In fact, the first person who will reach the age of 150 is alive now and walking around.
If you haven’t taken the time to think about how much it costs to live 30 or 35 years without a job, maybe now is the time.
Today is a “lecture you guys day,” so get ready.
Nobody can seem to talk about anything but a bubble in stocks, or stocks are overvalued, or the similarity between 1987 and now.
So what!
It’s that time of the quarter again when we take a step back from stock and bond ideas and I try to shock you into doing something about your retirement planning.
I hope to jolt you into action by quoting just some of the numbers that are stacking up against a comfortable retirement.
Here’s this quarter’s.
The vast majority of retired investors ignore bonds, all bonds. Not because they are risky; just the opposite is true. And not because they don’t pay enough; some actually beat the stock market.
No, the reason is they don’t know enough about them to make a rational choice.
The least understood investments are not options, stocks or even commodities: they are bonds. And this lack of bond knowledge is costing retired folks a lot of money in income, capital gains and losses in stocks they shouldn’t own.
If you worked or were active in the market back in the ‘90s, you’ll understand why this is the least likely income stock story I could ever imagine telling a retired audience.
And believe me, I had second thoughts about this for the Two Minute. But the numbers are just too compelling.
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)! Yup, the gadget maker.
I don’t know about you but I am really tired of the nonstop predictions by the money press and the media of a crash or market correction. Now there is even one out there about corporate bonds.
If I have learned one thing in the past 30 years it is when the TV and money press talk about something, especially a sell-off as much as they have been recently, it has already happened or it isn’t going to happen. Not for a while anyway.
Today’s Two-Minute is another reminder of how to not wake up broke in your 80s.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) just raised its dividend for the 58th consecutive year. 58th! It is up 7% from last year’s payout.
Survivability, reliability, predictable performance and growth… P&G is one of the many stocks that can prevent you from waking up broke in your 80s.
Here’s something that, as the Club’s bond person, I never thought I would be talking about.
Gold in a bond portfolio as a hedge against increasing interest rates
First, if you haven’t started to restructure the fixed-income portion of your investments to accommodate increasing rates, you aren’t paying attention. And that’s irresponsible.
Funding our retirement is a major focus for most of us. But if you reached 70 1/2 last year, you had better pay as much attention to how much you withdraw from your IRA as how much it is earning.
The government requires a minimum distribution in the year – or before April 15 of the year after – you turn 70 1/2. Mess this one up and it could cost you 50% of what you were supposed to take out, and you will still have to take out the money.
This week’s 2 Minute comes in the form of a warning about some stocks. A recent Barron’s article focused on a trend in stock picking that should be a big red flag for all investors… especially the retired.
The article cited 163 companies being recommended by analysts that have already exceeded their target price. That means the stocks are still buys, but have moved past the target price the analysts listed when they recommended them.