Companies and what's referred to as the "stock market" are two different things. Companies are rational. The "stock market" is irrational. When you begin to realize that we are long-term goal-focused investors and we are owners of successful companies rather than just investors in the "stock market" you can change how you perceive the panic that the financial "news" media assaults us with on a 24/7 basis.
I created this list as an education piece for any electric cooperative employee to use as they interview different financial advisors. My goal isn't that everyone who visits my site decides to work with me. My goal is to help you make an educated decision as you work through this process. If you are retiring soon or just exploring a relationship with a financial advisor, be sure to ask these 11 questions during the interview process. And interview at least three advisors. That should give you a good idea of whom you want to work with and why.
Everyday the financial “news” tells us the status of the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite because these are the three most followed indexes by media and investors. I’ve found through the years that many people have no idea what an index is or specifically what these three indexes represent. Today I’m going to give you a Cliffs Notes version of what an index is as it relates to the stock market, a brief explanation of the three major indexes
The impulse to get out of the market before something bad happens is an impulse in all of us but it's at best only half of a strategy. What impulse would you listen to for re-entry to the market? Impulses don't make a strategy, but they can totally destroy a strategy.
It depends on your goals, your long term financial plan, your age even factors into things here. Let's just run through these options real quick.
As your advisor we are a walking talking insurance plan hired to protect one of the largest assets you own, your retirement nest egg. The difference being that unlike most insurance plans we protect you before a disaster strikes, not after the damage has been done.
Today I want to discuss why you should actually embrace temporary market declines rather than fear them. I said temporary because they all are temporary and always have been temporary and will always be temporary.
It seems there are many people who can't distinguish between risk and volatility. Volatility isn't risk. They aren't the same thing at all.
If you follow financial "journalism" at all you will inevitably hear how volatile the market is and how you should take action to protect yourself from the volatility. However, when we turn off the "news" and look at things rationally, we can see a completely different story. One that is actually true. It's not the market that is volatile. It's the investors that are volatile.
The picture associated with this blog shows what the average investor not working with an advisor often does.
One of the most underused, overlooked and unappreciated practices in investing is rebalancing your portfolio on a yearly basis. There's an old saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Disciplined rebalancing, however, is as close as you can get to a free lunch. Let's explore why.
Retirement has two doors. One leads to a chance of success. One leads to certain failure. Which door will you choose?
Yearly portfolio returns are literally meaningless in retirement and conversations about them put me into a deep REM type sleep. The only thing that matters in retirement is that you don't run out of money (also known as purchasing power). That's it! It turns out that "beating the market" or an imaginary benchmark in retirement doesn't really matter if you don't have two nickels to rub together and you're looking for a job when you could be hanging out with your grandkids.
Today I want to discuss, what I feel, is the single most important benefit the co-op offers you. And that is your NRECA 401k plan. It’s important because it’s the fastest and simplest way for you to grow your wealth over time.
Our strategy is long term and not affected by day-to-day fluctuations of the stock market. Our retirement plans are designed with one thing in mind and that is to keep you as worry free as possible so you can enjoy this time in your life that you have earned and deserve.
In a society that has basically turned outperformance into a religion, the average investor is not only underperforming the markets, he is consistently underperforming his own investments!
