Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying life. We've kept busy at the office, and have been working hard to keep up with the ever changing financial landscape. We've brought on a new money management firm to help us with the equity (stock market) side of our business. Their history is very impressive over the past ten years. They've had an annual rate of return of over 12% (net of fees), with only one year of negative returns (-3.8%). That's a very good track record during a very volatile period. Blending or laddering these folks with our current strategies has opened up some additional opportunities for our clients. I'd encourage you to learn more. Kelly and I have also added some additional companies to assist with Medicare Supplement planning that can help many folks lower their health care costs. We've come across lots of folks that have had their Medicare Supplement premiums increased quite a bit over the past few years. So, if you feel you're paying too much, give Kelly a call at the office. We may have a better option for you. As always, enjoy this month's articles, and if anyone would like any of our free reports just let us know. We've added some really good ones lately! Just go to our website to check it out. As we mentioned last month, we now have a weekly radio show. It is called Safe Harbor Retirement Radio and is on Saturdays from 10:00-10:30am on WSIC 1400am. We will be adding a radio tab to the website soon, so you'll be able to listen to previous shows whenever it is convenient for you.
Until next month,  James D. Stillman P.S. - Client RSVP's for our End of Summer Bash at the Quarry at Carrigan Farms on August 23rd are needed by THIS FRIDAY AUGUST 9th. You can call or email to let us know you'd like to attend. Remember, friends and family are welcome to join you! |
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Are You Being Told The Truth About Your Retirement Planning
Lake Norman Magazine, August 2013
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In over 15 years in the financial services field, I've learned that "Wall Street" and the big financial institutions are really good at promoting planning ideas that benefit them and not necessarily you. On the surface, what they say can make sense, but when you look behind the curtain - like the Wizard of Oz - their advice can be more show than reality.
Here are just a few of the mistruths you may be told about retirement income planning:
1) You should follow the 4% withdrawal rule.
The 4% rule states that if you invest your money in a "balanced" portfolio (defined as 50% stocks, 50% bonds), then you can draw down 4% each year for income and it should last a lifetime. On the surface, that seems to make sense. In reality, you need to know that this approach only works when markets are making money. In the 1980's and 1990's, this approach worked really well, but then again, what didn't?
However, in the 2000's it completely fell apart. T. Rowe Price, AARP, The Putnam Institute on Retirement, and the Government Accountability Office, all recently issued studies that detail the failure of this approach in the 2000's, due to market volatility. This rule works great for Wall Street because they want all your money "invested" all the time. That may not be prudent in retirement, especially when drawing down income.
Read more...
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MINC - Under the Hood
GFPC Thought for the Week (262)
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*MINC is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) consisting of highly diversified fixed income assets with very low sensitivity to changes in interest rates. Think of MINC as a short-term bond fund.
*The purpose of MINC is to bridge the gap between cash and the Conservative Income (CI) portfolio to provide investors with an additional source of low risk income.
*MINC ideal for those investors who are willing to assume a small amount of risk for sizeable returns versus cash and cash equivalent products such as CDs and money market funds.
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Stocks Have Recovered, Bonds Have Not
GFPC Thought for the Week (263)
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*Both stocks and bonds came under pressure in June from fear that the Fed would begin tapering their bond buying program, Quantitative Easing (QE).
*The target of the selloff was not a specific asset class but rather a type of asset - any security that paid an attractive yield fell out of favor.
*The fact that stocks have recovered since June while bonds are still under pressure, only confirms our decision to reduce fixed income exposure to prepare us for the day when interest rates rise.
Read more...
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All content is intended for informational purposes only. Any guarantees are for insured products only and are dependent on the claims paying abilities of the insurer. All investments carry some risk and you should be advised by your personal financial advidor before implementing any strategies discussed, as they are not suitable for everyone.
JDS Wealth Management Corporation's outgoing and incoming e-mails are electronically archived and subject to review and/or disclosure to someone other than the recipient. We cannot accept requests for securities transactions or other similar instructions through e-mail. We cannot ensure the security of information e-mailed over the Internet, so you should be careful when transmitting confidential information such as account numbers and security holdings. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer."
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