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Blog

2019 Investment Returns With Our Recommendation

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on July 11th, 2019

I have a friend who has been asking me for almost 3 years if we think the stock market is ready to take a dive. My answer is always the same: “What portion of your portfolio is actually invested in the stock market?” Why do I ask such a question? Because the return of the stock market only impacts her stock mutual fund investments. Her overall portfolio return depends on how all her investment types – cash, long-term income funds, stock funds, real estate funds, etc. – are mixed and how they perform together. This is called asset allocation and is an important investment portfolio technique that balances risk among various types of investments. So, here is: 1) A review of 2019 so far; 2) The stock and bond market returns in context and; 3) Our recommendation to focus on asset allocation, not the short-term direction of the stock market:

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The Best Chocolate Ice Cream In The World

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on June 27th, 2019

When first learning to reading, my son would often read aloud restaurant signs through the car window that proclaimed, “World’s Best Fried Chicken!” or “Best Chocolate Ice Cream in Vermont!” When he was old enough for some level of critical thinking and those claims sunk in as audacious, he would ask, “Says who?” I was reminded of that recently when the Securities and Exchange Commission (the other SEC) issued new regulations that attempt to raise the level of conduct of Stock Brokers. The new rule allows brokers to claim they are acting in clients’ “best interests” – a level up from the current “advice that is suitable” standard. But, “Says who?” As it turns out, if the brokers say so.

Now, I’m guessing eyes started glazing when I mentioned the word regulation but, hang with me, here’s why you should care:

  1. If you already work with a Registered Investment Adviser, like Moneywatch, then the SEC already requires us to act in your best interest. And that should matter to you.
  2. If you work with another type of provider, however, or are shopping for financial advice, you should know not every firm or adviser adheres to that same standard.

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A Practice Graduation Letter To My Daughter

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on June 13th, 2019

It’s still a year off but seeing all these graduation ceremonies and commencement speeches on Twitter started me thinking of what I’ll tell our daughter when she graduates college next spring. Plus, I know she just can’t wait to get more advice from me, so why not start early?

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Forget Retirement, Seek Financial Independence

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on June 6th, 2019

While in Kansas City to visit family recently one of my cousins posed a question to the Byars boys at lunch, “I don’t want to retire – so what do I call that?” So, for context, here’s the backstory: My cousin is extremely bright with an MBA from Northwestern and is the CFO for a company headquartered in Omaha not called Berkshire-Hathaway. He already knows that accumulating enough money to support him and his family throughout their lives isn’t really his pertinent question but, what am I going to do with my life to challenge myself and make my mark, is. Essentially, he explained that he likes to work, doesn’t have hobbies that consume him and wanted to know what should he plan for if not retirement? My answer? Glance back at the title of this post for a hint – Financial Independence!

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Meet the Moneywatch Team: Our Founder

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on May 30th, 2019

I first met Bob Bova, founder of Moneywatch Advisors, in 1986 right after I had graduated from college and Bob was hosting my Dad, his client, for their regular quarterly meeting. For perspective, this was the year the Mets broke the hearts of the Red Sox by winning the World Series after Bill Buckner, who just died this week, let an easy ground ball roll through his legs. Economically, the U.S. was doing well after a recession in the early ‘80’s and the Federal Reserve was lowering short-term interest rates that offered the economy a bit of a tailwind. To me, the ease with which Bob explained his strategy for helping my parents as they were just starting to really focus on some long-term financial goals seemed like he had been born to do this – although he had just founded the firm 6 years prior.

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Financial Planning Is About More Than Money

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on May 23rd, 2019

We traveled in March to Argentina to see our daughter who is there studying this semester. While in Cordoba, a city of 1 million boasting the country’s largest university with an enrollment of 100,000, we rented an apartment and tried to experience as much Argentina life as one can over a two-week span. One day, my son remarked how the lifestyles we saw seemed much less affluent than we’re used to seeing: fewer people own their own cars and houses and apartments are smaller and more modest, for instance. So, with an opportunity to teach a life lesson, I dove into the conversation that “all wealth is relative.”

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Pros and Cons Of a High Deductible Health Plan

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on May 6th, 2019

The University of Kentucky added a high-deductible health insurance plan to its mix of options for the enrollment period that ends this Friday, May 10. UK continues to add benefit options for faculty and staff that provide arguably the best mix of benefits in central Kentucky. Choices, however, can be tricky. Here are some pros and cons on high-deductible plans and a link to a quite comprehensive, but understandable, article on Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

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Fun Investing Lessons From 2019 Derby Horse Names

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on May 2nd, 2019

Come on, admit it, you place at least one bet each Derby on the name that means something to you. I do. For fun, below is the list of this year’s Derby horses with the investing or financial planning lesson that can be gleaned from their names. (In the order of their Road to the Derby points)

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Your Home Is An Asset - But Not An Investment Asset

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on April 25th, 2019

Clients ask us all the time about either keeping a house they used to live in and renting it out or buying a house to rent out. I guess us Americans have some kind of burning desire to control our section of the Monopoly board. Usually I begin my response with a flip answer such as, “A mutual fund won’t ever call you at 3:00 in the morning with a stopped-up toilet.” And, while the hassle of managing rental property can’t be overlooked, let’s concentrate on the numbers of residential real estate as an investment.

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Surprised By Taxes? Try These Tips

Submitted by Moneywatch Advisors on April 18th, 2019

Yes, I know, you just filed your taxes and the last thing you want to think about is taxes. I get it. But, what if there were some simple ways of reducing your tax liability and decreasing your chances of owing next April? Interested? Take 90 seconds to skim the following tips:

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STEVE BYARS, VP MONEYWATCH ADVISORS


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ABOUT THIS BLOG

In 1996 Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. wrote a seminal book entitled, The Millionaire Next Door. These two researchers went in search of the rich in the country: Who are they? What do they do? What do they drive? How do they invest? They discovered, much to their surprise, that many of the wealthy in this country don’t live in the most expensive neighborhood or drive the fanciest cars but are ordinary people living right among us regular people. Because, remember, wealth is not the same as income. If one earns a high income and spends it all each year, one isn’t getting wealthier, just living high. Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend.

This blog is about and for those who live beneath their means, save their money, invest and, yes, get wealthy the old-fashioned way: steadily, over many years.

And I’ll occasionally share interesting stories that are completely unrelated to the main topic of financial planning.

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