PETE THE PLANNER: Procrastination can complicate homework—and retirement
Proper financial planning does not require additional work. It requires timelier work.
Investing Column
Articles
HAHN: Pursue these steps to increase your earning potential
We all have varying levels of human capital, and our mindset determines how we use and enhance that capital.
PETE THE PLANNER: Don’t repeat mistakes you made after the stock market tumbled
You can’t change your mistake. That ship has sailed. But you can resolve to never do it again.
PETE THE PLANNER: It’s time to buckle down on convenience spending
Self-sufficiency can turn instability into stability by leveraging an abundance of time to save money.
HAHN: Understand the three stages of planning for retirement
In economics, there are only three ways to produce income—land, labor and capital. If you want to stop laboring [retire, reach financial independence, whatever], you need to acquire the other two.
PETE THE PLANNER: Be cautious about planning to sell your business to fund retirement
If you’re going to sacrifice your current retirement plan to save your business, you’d better make sure your business is your retirement plan.
KIM: Dreams of Beverly Hills crushed as oil crashes below zero
Passively “managed” products can be fine, as long as they are just following prices in whatever market they are tracking. However, if they become big enough that they become the market and are the one setting prices, it’s dangerous.
PETE THE PLANNER: It’s time to face the reality that you need to cut spending
The reality is, a financial crisis was destined to strike your household at some point.
HAHN: Another pestilence to contend with: financial scams
Tricksters abound in times of crisis. They are opportunistic and clever. As the COVID-19 outbreak advances, so do their efforts.
PETE THE PLANNER: Don’t let your financial challenges paralyze you
When a complex issue seems so overwhelming that a person becomes paralyzed with inaction, it becomes important to delineate and solve your challenges independently.
KIM: When other investors panic, it’s time to get greedy
Whenever uncertainty abounds, such as the present, the brain seeks to find some semblance of control—even if it is just an illusion of control.
PETE THE PLANNER: Hard financial times don’t have to be insurmountable
I’m not giving up on you or anyone else. Why? Because of the thousands of people who’ve rebuilt their financial lives right in front of my eyes over the last two decades.
HAHN: Doom and gloom, or opportunity and unity
At some point, the uncertainty will be resolved. The fear will be tougher to dampen.
PETE THE PLANNER: You can’t lose by preparing now for a slowdown
When times get tough, and some jobs get eliminated, it’s the people who have cash to pay the bills, as opposed to liquidating depleted retirement accounts, who will come out on the other side unscathed.
KIM: Buffett on coronavirus scare: ‘We certainly won’t be selling’
Nobody knows how long and far the coronavirus outbreak will go or how it will end. In a global economy, near-term cash flows will be hurt, but cash flows going out 10 or 20 years will not be.
PETE THE PLANNER: Don’t confuse putting things off with patience
There’s a giant difference between the two, and knowing the difference can save your financial life. Patience is strategic, if not pragmatic, while waiting is a gamble.
HAHN: Accumulation is easy, but distribution is hard
The challenge is to create a spending strategy that allows individuals to optimize spending over an uncertain time frame without depleting a portfolio.
PETE THE PLANNER: Think twice about offering to pay for college
Unless you have an ungodly amount of money, you need to define exactly what it means to “pay for their education.” That’s a much bigger and broader promise than most people know.
KIM: Coronavirus-fueled volatility your friend, not enemy
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, found returns for the S&P 500 were positive (some strongly so) at 30, 60 and 90 days after the first U.S. case for the prior five viral outbreaks.
PETE THE PLANNER: Your portfolio might not be as diversified as you think
The goal of diversification isn’t just to spread your market risk across different companies, but to make sure the companies themselves are significantly different from one another, and even more important, complementary.