I have known Phil DeMuth for a number of years and I admire his common sense and views on many topics. Phil authored the recently-published book The Affluent Investor that fills a need in the crowded shelves of investment books. As a financial advisor to high-net-worth families, Phil brings valuable perspective to investors who have built substantial portfolios and seek to protect and grow their wealth effectively. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Wealth’ Category
Review of The Affluent Investor by Phil DeMuth
Posted in Asset Allocation, book review, Dividends, ETFs, Financial Advisors, Income Investing, Investors, Mutual Funds, Wealth, tagged affluent investors, high beta rich, high-net-worth families, investment portfolios, lifecycle investing, phil demuth, The Affluent Investor on April 9, 2013 | Leave a Comment »
Harvard’s Michael Porter Shares His Economic Outlook
Posted in Commodities, Real Estate, Wealth, tagged economic growth, economy, energy independence, entitlement programs, falling incomes, Michael Porter, middle class, natural gas, public education, skill development, stagnant incomes, technology on February 27, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter is a familiar name to almost anyone who has graduated from business school in the last twenty years or so. He recently gave an interview on CNBC in which he shares his analysis of the U.S. economy. Porter is best known for his work in competitive strategy, a field in which he is considered the preeminent expert, so his views of what ails the U.S. economy and how we can get back on track are of considerable interest. He has analyzed the forces that provide one country or region with relative competitive advantages vs. others and he applies this perspective in his commentary. (more…)
The Difference Between Marginal and Effective Tax Rates
Posted in 401(k), Taxes, Tid Bit, Wealth, tagged Bush-era tax cuts, effective tax, federal tax bracket, fiscal cliff, marginal tax, tax brackets on December 14, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Guest post by Contributing Editor, Matthew Amster-Burton, Mint.com.
Think you’re unlucky? I know a guy who’ll pay 99% of his income in taxes if the Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of December. (more…)
Game Theory, Behavioral Finance, and Investing: Part 1 of 5
Posted in Behavioral Finance, Investors, Market Timing, Markets, Stock Investing, Wealth, tagged Behavioral Finance, clean energy, Gambling, game theory, gaming, green tech, odds, software compaines on October 26, 2012 | 4 Comments »
Watching the market this year has been like observing an exercise in game theory and behavioral finance, and the two fields are closely related. Game theory is the study of how a rational person makes decisions in uncertain situations. As the name suggests, game theory was developed with the intent of developing optimal strategies in games in which chance or the decisions of an opponent play a role in your outcome. Game theory focuses on how rational players can make the best decisions to maximize their satisfaction. Behavioral finance adds the nuance that, in real life, people do not necessarily have all available information and, even if they do, they often make decisions that are inconsistent with those made by a perfectly-rational and fully-informed decision maker. (more…)
Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Five
Posted in Asset Allocation, Bonds, Diversification, ETFs, financial planning, Investors, Long-term investing, Low Cost Investing, Mutual Funds, Portfolio Investing 101, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Stock Investing, Volatility, Wealth, tagged Defined Contribution, economy, household income, income replacement, Lawrence Kotlikoff, pensions, retirement security, Rob Arnott, saving, Scott Burns, unemployment on October 2, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Effective Actions in an Uncertain World: Part Five of Our Special Five Part Series
There are a number of factors that we need to predict in order to come up with saving and investing strategies for retirement. The values that we assign to these factors will have a huge impact on whether or not we will be able to meet our goals. First, there is the expected return that investors will make on their retirement savings. Second, there is the common estimate that people will need about 85% of their pre-retirement income to support them once they stop working. Finally, there is the potential impact of behavior on savings rates, investing, and spending. (more…)
Saving and Investing for Retirement: Part Four
Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Bonds, Diversification, ETFs, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Stock Investing, Volatility, Wealth, tagged Annuities, coupon payments, Fidelity, financial challenge, high yield bonds, Ibbotson, Inflation, junk bonds, MLPs, REITs, retirement income, SPIAs, SWRs, systematic withdrawal, Target Date Funds, TIPS, TIPS ladders on September 28, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Generating Income: Part Four of Our Special Five Part Series
During their working years, investors focus on saving and investing with a goal of building wealth. As they enter retirement, either by ceasing paid employment entirely or by scaling back paid employment, investors shift their focus to using their portfolios to provide a reliable long-term stream of income. This transition from building wealth to income generation is the subject of a great deal of research in retirement planning. Once investors are at or near retirement, the most significant financial challenge is using their accumulated savings to provide substantial income for their retirement years. (more…)
Sector Watch: Spotlight on Defensive Strategy
Posted in Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Diversification, Dividends, financial planning, Personalization, Regular Investing, Risk, Stock Investing, Volatility, Wealth, tagged defensive stocks, Defensive Strategy Folio, Low-Beta, market volatility, Monte Carlo Simulation on September 19, 2012 | 4 Comments »
About four and a half years ago, Folio Investing launched an equity (e.g. stock) portfolio that focused on reducing the impact of market volatility. So-called defensive stocks are those which tend to be fairly insensitive to the mood of the market as a whole. Conventional wisdom suggests that demand for band-aids, electricity and paper does not go up when the market is exuberant, but neither does it collapse when the market swoons. The conventional wisdom also suggests that these stocks will tend to under-perform the broader market during rallies and, over the long-term, that a portfolio of these stocks will deliver modest returns. Our research suggested, however, that it was possible to create a portfolio of defensive stocks that would provide returns to keep up with rallies in the broader market, while still substantially reducing the impact of market volatility. Folio Investing launched the Defensive Strategy Folio that incorporated this research on February 28, 2008. (more…)
The Challenge of Long-Term Income: Part II
Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Commodities, Financial Advisors, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Personalization, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Stock Investing, Volatility, Wealth, tagged Annuities, Are You A Stock or a Bond?, government bonds, Inflation, interest rates, low-risk, Moshe Milevsky, Rachel Taqqu, Risk Less and Prosper, TIPS, Treasury bonds, ZVI Bodie on September 17, 2012 | 9 Comments »
In Part I of this article, I explained why I have issues with the traditional idea that individuals should provide for their required level of retirement income (beyond what is provided by Social Security and any pensions) entirely with assets with zero risk of loss of principal (e.g. Treasury bonds). In Part II, I discuss the alternative approaches.
There are two investments that have zero loss of principal: traditional Treasury bonds and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which are Treasury bonds with embedded protection against inflation.
I agree with the notion that people need to save and invest so as to be able to provide a very reliable and consistent income stream in retirement. Zvi Bodie has presented a compelling argument that investments in stocks do not become less risky as you hold them for longer periods, so that investors cannot rely on stocks as part of their required income stream. I have performed detailed analysis of Bodie’s argument and I agree with his argument: the magnitude of loss that you can face with an equity-heavy portfolio increases the longer you hold the portfolio. As I noted in Part I, William Bernstein has recently advocated for a portfolio in which all of your required income is provided by Treasuries and annuities, largely consistent with Bodie. (more…)
The Golden Rule of Investing
Posted in 401(k), debt, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Passive Investing, Portfolio Investing 101, Retirement, retirement planning, Taxes, Wealth, tagged Burton Malkiel, Charles Ellis, credit card debt, dissaving, financial health, saving, spending, The Elements of Investing, The Investor's Manifesto, William J. Bernstein on August 31, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Guest post by Contributing Editor, Lowell Herr, ITA Wealth Management. Lowell is a subscriber to the Portfolioist and his investment philosophy is similar to ours. Enjoy.
The Golden Rule of Investing is simply, “Save as much as you can as early as you can.” The operative word is early. William J. Bernstein lays it out in stark language in his book, “The Investor’s Manifesto“ when he writes, “Each dollar you do not save at 25 will mean two inflation-adjusted dollars that you will need to save if you start at age 35, four if you begin at 45, and eight if you start at 55. In practice, if you lack substantial savings at 45, you are in serious trouble. Since a 25-year-old should be saving at least 10 percent of his or her salary, this means that a 45-year-old will need to save nearly half of his or her salary. Most 45-year-olds will find this nearly impossible, if for no other reason than the necessity of paying living expenses, payroll taxes, and income taxes.” (more…)
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