Late Bloomer Wealth

Consumer Finance

Nine Rules for Reducing Retirement Planning Costs

One of the straightforward actions of saving costs on anything you purchase is looking at the price tag and price compare. Yet when it comes to investment costs, the “price tag” is difficult to locate and then what do you compare it with. Usually, the broker or financial adviser suggests alternatives. But the professional may have other priorities in mind such as getting their commission or slice of the pie from the investment expense. In this post, I provide 8 easy and one challenging rule that you can do right now to avoid getting into this predicament.

Book Review: The Soul of Money

If you want a more emotional, personal, and passionate point of view of money, read my review of The Soul of Money by Lynn Twist. It is surprisingly similar to John Bogle’s Enough book. I have come to realize the when it comes to thinking about money, people who do not have it, think about it all the time, and those who have saved, invested and managed their money, can think of supporting causes that make this planet a better place for all of us. I have discovered that I have become a better person by discovering and learning the investment process.

What makes Vanguard and Tesla Similar?

On April 22, 2014, was an exciting day for Dan and I. We picked up our brand new Tesla 2014 Model S. As you know, this car is very expensive. Almost a year had passed before we decided to purchase one. When it comes to supporting our values of buying American made products, supporting American ingenuity, American workers, sustainable energy movement, and a clean environment, money should not be an obstacle, especially when we could afford the price tag.

Steve’s Book Review: Excellent for Beginners

I reviewed another investment book. I tell why self-published authors connect better with investing beginners than most of the traditionally published personal finance books found in bookstores. The author follows the sage advice of portfolio construction of Jack Bogle and the investment company he founded in 1974, Vanguard Group. I highly recommend this book. It’s an easy read and gets right to the point.

Book Review: Trusting Financial Advisers

Here we go again. That five letter word T-R-U-S-T leads directly to our emotions. Who can we trust with our investments? How do we know that a fee-only financial adviser is trustworthy? In my previous blog post (Trust and Investing), John Bogle wrote that the only thing you can trust is that the economies of the entire planet will grow over time. As a do-it-yourself investor, you can eliminate trusting an adviser. I thought I will take up this topic again through a book review because many of you want help, and there are trustworthy fee-only advisers. This book might provide clues by the language which reflect trust that these advisers use.

According to the authors, you are not the only one who might not trust an adviser again. Most Americans are still reeling over the 2008 stock market crash. Because of 2008, trusting a financial adviser and the industry has radically changed according to the authors. They wrote: “The roots of negative selling run deep. It has a long history of success. But our culture has changed, and negative selling is no longer consistent with who we are as consumers…Yet salespeople still often find themselves in that gray area between creating fear and illustrating a need-which in turn costs them sales.”

While the book’s primary audience is for the financial professional, my review might help you gain confidence on how to evaluate a potential adviser. Remember, you are interviewing potential advisers, not the other way around. My review of this book addresses the trust problem head-on and it’s for people who are looking for a trustworthy financial adviser.

Therese’s Story

The next financial coming of age story has a frequent theme. Many people have money in different financial institutions, different banks, different mutual fund companies, different asset classes, sectors, or individual company stocks. Therese, my guest author, had little idea what, where and who was minding her money! Her money was so convoluted that a Rubik’s Cube was easier to solve. Soooooo, there is plenty of room for simplicity. Discover how Therese’s portfolio evolved from a complex and incoherent mess to a simple Vanguard portfolio after one visit with a fee-only financial adviser from Garrett Planning Network.

What can 2.5 months do to my boring portfolio performance?

The first six weeks of the new year was a bust for the stock market. But in the seventh week something magical happened–it turned bullish. Oil prices went up and our Federal Reserve Board remarks on the status of the economy was neutral, along with a thousand other economic moving parts. I ignore all of the noise and stick with my planned portfolio allocation.

2016 Portfolio Plan, Market Crash and Additional Financial Goodies

Today’s post is a follow-up to my previous post about my 2015 portfolio return. In the first weeks of 2016 the stock market had its worst beginning of the new year ever. That is a strong and historic statement. Is there anything we should be doing different? As long as you have a low-cost, diversified plan across all major asset classes and that the stock bond split is appropriate for your age and willingness to take risk, there is no reason to change your plan or to capitulate. In fact, it is not good to change your plan to a less risky portfolio while a crash is underway. Check out my portfolio during this current crash.

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