Wow! Seems like summer is half gone, and I've only been out on the boat a few times! Hopefully all of you are having a great summer with family and friends!

We've kept busy here at the office, but I've found some time to vacation with my family. Tyler and I spent a week in Wisconsin visiting our old stomping grounds, took in a few Brewers games at Miller Park, attended the annual Green Bay Packers shareholders meeting, and I'll admit we also took in a few brewpubs along the way. Hey, we're from Wisconsin, so it's all about beer, brats, and cheese (yes I'm proud to say we're cheese heads)! What else can I say? Tyler and I had a great time, and we did some things as father and son that we've never done before. I'll always cherish that time. Man, time sure seems to get away from you as we grow older.

Last week Kelly and I attended what's called a "Mastermind Event" in Scottsdale, Arizona. For those of you who may not know, Kelly and I are part of the JD Mellberg Financial team. This is group of elite advisors across the nation (top 1%), that are specialized in retirement & annuity planning. If you ever Google anything to do with annuities, you'll get JD Mellberg at the top of the list (Senior Annuity Alert). Josh Mellberg has created a series of educational videos and reports when it comes to retirement planning and proper annuity use. His firm dominates the internet, and I'm confident we'll soon be able to say radio and TV as well.

What a privilege to be part of such a talented and focused group of professionals. It's amazing how much we learn every time we attend these events. When a group of talented, smart, and caring people get together to share ideas, it just blows me away how much we learn to better serve the consumer. The "Financial Services" business is changing rapidly, and folks need to change with it in order to take advantage of new products and newer strategies. That's why we're so passionate about attending these events, staying on top of new products and strategies, and continually learning.

Make sure to listen to our radio show, "The Safe Harbor Retirement Planning Show" now on Wednesdays at 8:00am and Saturdays at 10:00am on WSIC Radio 1400AM. Also feel free to check out our website and listen to previous shows, interviews with Local Biz Now, interviews with "The Big Guy" Harold Johnson, or read any previous Lake Norman Magazine articles. There's lots of good educational stuff on our website that's continually updated, so check it out!

As always, if anyone has any questions, would like any of our free reports, would like to sign up for one of our dinner workshops, or would like a free portfolio analysis (stress test), just let us know. As I always say, the biggest mistake retires make is taking too much risk in retirement! We've enjoyed over a five year Bull Run in the equity markets, and the average is about three years. We're also in an unprecedented bond bubble that's been building for 35 years (bond prices high, interest rates low). IT WON'T LAST FOREVER!

Please don't get caught in the next crash! Know EXACTLY where you stand by taking advantage of our free analysis to help you figure it out. Folks, it's all about education on financial markets. That's what we're here for: to help you understand in common sense language where you stand.  

Enjoy this month's articles, and we'll see you next month!

Until next month,

James Stillman      

  Tyler & I in Milwaukee, WI 

As most of our readers already know, we've been doing a series of articles on the pros and cons of mutual fund investing. This month's article will focus on a few mutual fund alternatives that are available today. As we've stated in our previous articles, mutual funds are very beneficial in certain cases, such as investing with smaller amounts of money or making 401k contributions.

While they may be a good tool for many investors, studies have shown that the majority of wealthy investors choose not to invest using mutual funds. So, what do they invest in instead? A recent survey done by TIGER 21, a member's only club of entrepreneurs, executives, and money managers, found that their typical investment portfolio at the end of 2013 looked like this: 23% stocks, 21% private equity, 21% real estate, 14% bonds and fixed income, 8% hedge funds, 1% commodities, and 11% cash.

While that's little changed from the year earlier, there has been a significant shift among the wealthy toward private equity and away from fixed income since mid-2011. Of course, most normal folks don't have the resources to invest like the big shots mentioned above, so what can you do?

  Read More...   

 Read More...  

 Read More...