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Time is our most precious resource and I thank you for allowing me to get a few minutes of your time each week. I hope you find the blog helpful and informative. Send me an email if there is ever a topic you would be interested in learning more about. I will research it and write a future blog about it.

Don't Listen To The Serpent Thumbnail

Don't Listen To The Serpent

In the Book of Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve authority over the earth, forbidding them of only one thing. They are forbidden from tasting the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And for a few moments, their innocence is perfect. Then it happens. They taste the fruit and commit the original transgression. And after that, everything bad and wrong with earthly life suddenly enters the world: sin, shame, struggle, sickness and death. They only made one little mistake, but it was the only mistake they couldn't afford to make.

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The Biggest Misconception In Retirement Thumbnail

The Biggest Misconception In Retirement

As I write this blog in February 2023, the last 14 months have given us a master class on how inflation can affect retirement planning and your purchasing power in general. Probably the biggest misconception I see when talking to retirees or soon to be retirees is that they worry about losing their "money" in retirement but they don't worry about losing their purchasing power.

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Owning The Best Companies In The United States Thumbnail

Owning The Best Companies In The United States

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we’ve seen first hand how world events can affect the markets here in the United States. We’ve seen lots of market volatility since the beginning of the year. But guess what? The market is always volatile. And the reason for that is many investors make all their decisions based on emotion. And by doing this they blur the lines between volatility and risk. Risk and volatility are not the same thing. In fact, they aren’t even remotely related.

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3 Tips For A Recession Proof Retirement Thumbnail

3 Tips For A Recession Proof Retirement

It's January 23, 2023 and all the media pundits are trying to predict a recession as if they have any idea about anything at all. In my opinion, and by definition, the American economy was and is already in a mild recession. Let's define what a recession is and what the Gross Domestic Product is and what this means to you. Then we will talk about tips to help you through a recession. And before we start, I urge you not to panic. Recessions are common and often they are exactly what can cure a struggling economy. They are NOT to be feared!

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How Long Do Bear Markets Last? Thumbnail

How Long Do Bear Markets Last?

Since 1948, there have been 10 Bear markets U.S. excluding the one we are in right now. The average number of years from the peak of the Bear market to the recovery, meaning the time it took for the S&P 500 to climb back to its previous highs was 3.9 years and the median/midpoint was 2.7 years. On five of those occasions, the market recovered in 2 years or less! In other words, market downturns feel much longer than they actually are.

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Should You Pay A Financial Advisor? Thumbnail

Should You Pay A Financial Advisor?

Typically, you pay an advisor the same reason you pay a mechanic to repair your car. If you wanted to repair it yourself, you probably could, but what's your time worth? Is that really what you want to do? Can you do it right? What is your strategy for doubling your income in retirement? What is your strategy for tax planning in retirement? What is your strategy for claiming Social Security in retirement? If you aren't sure of those answers, it would be wise to sit down and talk to an advisor about your retirement planning needs.

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Would You Work The Next Two Years For Free?

The co-ops are a great place to work, no doubt about it, and I'm sure you love your job but would you do it for free? Because if you are considering retirement soon and wondering if you should retire this year or next year that may be exactly what you are doing. One thing I've found that people totally disregard when they think about retirement is interest rates. Interest rates directly affect your R&S Pension amounts and the dollar amount between retiring this year versus next year could mean that you end up working for free when you could have retired.

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Why All Of Us Should Embrace Temporary Market Declines Thumbnail

Why All Of Us Should Embrace Temporary Market Declines

What a wild year so far in the in regards to the market. We've seen volatility like we haven't seen since March 2020 which was the beginning stages of the pandemic. Today I want to discuss why you should actually embrace temporary market declines rather than fear them. Notice I said, temporary market declines. I said temporary because they all are temporary and always have been temporary and will always be temporary. But the good news is:

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Tax Implications Of A Lifetime Monthly Pension Versus A One Time Lump Sum Cash Payment  Thumbnail

Tax Implications Of A Lifetime Monthly Pension Versus A One Time Lump Sum Cash Payment

Many of you will contemplate retirement this year and despite what the news is telling you, if you have a pension plan sometimes referred to as a defined benefit plan at your current employer, this could be a great time to retire. Most pension/defined benefit plans give you the option of taking a series of lifetime monthly payments or a one time lump sum cash payment. This is not a decision to take lightly or a decision to make quickly. This decision will affect you and your family for decades and even generations to come. And it has tax implications!

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Buy High and Sell Low or Sell Low and Buy High? Thumbnail

Buy High and Sell Low or Sell Low and Buy High?

The picture associated with this blog shows what the typical investor not working with an advisor often does. They buy high and sell low which is the exact opposite of what you should do. And I'm seeing that happen right now everywhere I look. When the market goes down it's normal to panic but should you actually get out of the market and sell your investments?

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Why Is The Stock Market So Volatile At Times? Thumbnail

Why Is The Stock Market So Volatile At Times?

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.

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The Financial "News" Cycle Thumbnail

The Financial "News" Cycle

As if we don't have enough to worry about in our day to day lives, along comes the 24/7 financial "news" cycle to fan the flames and magnify any fears we have about our retirement money and our investments. They are relentless with their clickbait and flat out false narratives. So what are we to do? First let's understand the function of the financial "news" cycle.

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