Why You Need To Be Careful With Bond Funds

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
Not all investors understand the inverse relationship that exits between bonds and interest rates; the fact is when interest rates rise, bond values go down.  To understand this concept let’s break this down to see how a bond works.  Bonds have a stated maturity and a stated interest rate that they declare when they are issued.  The most common types of bonds today are government and co...
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The Math of Gains and Losses

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
  Here’s an interesting part of investing that most investors get wrong. In fact, if most investors understood this they probably would fire their broker. It has to do with how much it takes in percentage terms for a portfolio to recoup losses after a market correction. So let’s look at this.  If you claim to be a conservative investor, and can handle a 10% loss, then I would agree ...
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Order of Returns Risks Within an Income Portfolio

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
One of the elements that greatly magnifies the withdrawal risk is the Order of Returns Principle. When your portfolio has losing years it can affect its ability to last through life expectancy more than anything else. The graphs below illustrate this. What’s interesting to note about this graph is that both portfolios earned 8.03% and both Ron and Barb withdrew the same percentage for incom...
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How Much of Your Retirement Savings Can You Afford to Lose?

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
  Of course when most people answer this question they will usually say, “I can’t afford to lose any of it!” So, with a retirement portfolio that has exposure to the stock market in the form of individual stocks or stock mutual funds, let’s first define a loss.  The easiest way would be when you receive your next month’s statement and you see that your portfolio value has dropped from...
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5 Reasons Why You Need An Estate Plan

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
   You Need An Estate Plan. Here's why... Avoiding Probate. We have all heard that this is something to avoid, but what are the problems with probate?  The main ones are the unnecessary costs, and the potential time delays that can tie up assets.   The good news is with good planning it can be easily avoided. Determining Beneficiaries. Without an estate plan, your assets will often...
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10 Reasons to Convert to a Roth IRA

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
The Roth IRA For Many Is A Staple to Effective Retirement Planning... 1. Taxpapers that have favorable tax features, such as a high basis ratio, charitable deduction carry-forwards, investment tax credit, net operating losses (NOLs), etc. This is due to the fact that these attributed reduce the effective tax rate of the conversion. 2. Suspension of the minimum distribution rules at...
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Benefits of Using A Revocable Trust

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
A Revocable Living Trust also known as a Grantor Trust, is commonly used in the estate planning process and has a number of benefits over a will. Avoids Probate. The probate process can be very expensive, often with a cost of 1 to 3% of the estate value.  Also time delays can be between 6 months to over a year in some cases before the assets are finally distributed.  In some cases if the ...
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Relative VS. Absolute Return Investing

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
Relative return strategies measure performance relative to the movement of an unmanaged index of securities,  the S&P 500, the Russell 2000, etc... In the world of relative returns, you “succeed” if you meet or beat your benchmark index; you “fail” if you trail your benchmark index. The consequences of failure – i.e., being fired – are quite drastic. To avoid that fate, a relative return mana...
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Life Is More Enjoyable After Retirement

Posted on by WCFSRetirement
  "Enjoyment of everyday activities increases after retirement, a study from Australia has found."   The heightened level of enjoyment lasts at least a year after a retiree stops working full time, researchers report in the journal Age and Ageing. There is conflicting evidence about changes in enjoyment and happiness when people retire, coauthor Tim Olds of the University of ...
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