financial plan

With football starting this week I thought I’d talk some defensive strategy. Namely, the prevent defense – pronounced, inexplicably, preee-vent. For those of you new to this, the prevent defense is often employed by teams with leads more than 3 points and less than 8 with just a few minutes to play. The theory is bend, but don’t break. More specifically, you put just 3 down lineman to pressure the Quarterback and 8 Defensive Backs to cover receivers and prevent a deep pass from reaching the end zone. The result is the offensive team often completes a flurry of passes for 10-15 yards, while burning valuable clock, but never reaches the end zone.

Now that we’ve passed the mid-year mark, many economists and self-declared financial pundits are reviewing investment performances of the first 6 months and predicting the next 6. The most frequent question seems to be whether we’re headed toward a bear market, followed by a recession. This, despite the fact the economy is strong with unemployment at historical lows and companies reporting earnings growth.

Most of our clients hire Moneywatch because they are consumed with their careers and busy with their families and they want us to plan for their financial independence and manage their investments to achieve that goal. And, for many, words like inverted yield curve and budget deficits make their eyes roll back in their head.  So, if the term zero term premium means you’ve had a bad semester, read here for what you need to know about your retirement investments if the market declines…or doesn’t. 

There’s a new movement, inspired by millennials, to supercharge one’s efforts to acquire enough money to retire early. And when I say early, I mean in their late 30’s and 40’s. This starts with a foundation with which we’re familiar: live beneath your means; save money; invest in a diversified portfolio of growth and income funds, etc. But, FIRE takes this a step further – actually an Evil Knievel jump further – and adds super saving through extreme steps to achieve an extraordinary goal. That goal is not to just retire early, like by age 55, but WAY early, when most of our careers are only just beginning. Here is how some are living their life. Is it for you?

“Americans are reaching retirement age in worse financial shape than the prior generation for the first time since Harry Truman was president”, says a recent Wall Street Journal article. There are several causes but us Baby Boomers are the first generation left mostly without pensions and with the responsibility to manage our own retirement savings. So, as you can imagine, some have flourished, some have struggled and more than some aren’t quite sure how they’ve done because they’re scared to look. Where do you fall?