I am sorry I have not posted in months. I have a bunch of posts that I will be publishing in the next weeks. On this blog post, I will report a milestone, a financial goal that I had never occurred to me–earning a high annual income. I think you will enjoy it so you can get motivated and energized to start saving and building your wealth.
Attention Los Angeles Unified School District Teachers and staff!
Another information packed financial literacy workshop will be presented on Saturday morning, March 17, 2018. Walk away with five hours of professional development! You will learn basic investing skills using the Award Winning 457(b) plan. You will discover CalSTRS 403bcompare.com website to learn how to evaluate the districts 403(b) plan so you will not get handed a product that looks after somebody else and not you. You will also walk away with resources so you can teach financial literacy to your students. Come on down! People have come more than once. You can attend as much as you want. We would love to see you.
Yep, you read the title of this blog correctly. But first I apologize, as it’s been a long time since my last post.
Since the beginning of the year, my portfolio and my personal life are growing and changing. As you know, I have experienced the worst personal loss of my life for the last 1.5 years. Because of my work with a grief group, 1 X 1 with a life coach, and maintaining connections with family and friends, being single again sucks sometimes, but I have begun the impossible, dating! I had never planned to be single so soon in my retirement and in the most shocking way. So what am I doing differently? I put my personal profile on a couple of dating sites, and I have actually gone out on coffee, hiking and dinner dates for the first time in 40+ years! I am beginning to appreciate being free and single again. I can do anything I want, and I have the financial resources to do just that.
Besides my personal life going in a positive direction, this stock market continues to grow, and so does my portfolio. Take a look at how my investments performed, my asset allocation and my costs. It’s only one click away.
According to the Tax Foundation, the richest Americans pay almost all of the Federal Income Taxes assessed by the IRS. Is this good news for us ordinary income earners? Well, perhaps not, as it is an indication of a severe decline in the middle class.
Steve’s comment: Guest Author Jessica Kane shows how some regular people of all income levels become wealthy. Those who earned their way to being financially secure executed those common sense daily habits we all share. I love articles that show the behavioral similarities between the wealthy and the rest of us. I think it comes down to actually believing that if you are consistent and disciplined about the goal of saving and learning to manage your investments, after time, your assets will grow more than you think and you’ll become financially secure. It’s a darn good feeling.
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.
Today’s blog is not about competition, heaven forbid! I am not a financial adviser. I show how I evaluated my portfolio so that it is following the overall stock and bond market index returns. Our goal is to earn the market averages, not exceed them. I invite you to share your portfolio return so everyone learns.
Many different types of Doom and Gloom aficionados have been around for thousands of years. Don’t be intimated by the financial doomers and gloomers–be inspired and encouraged with financial knowledge!
Book Review by Steve
Quarterly reports are historical landmarks on how the economy is performing. April 1, July 1 and October 1st are important reports offered by all of the financial networks. Wow! And what a quarter!
Early adopters are consumers who aspire to own the newest gadget even if it means paying top price. When it came to a renewable energy plan for our home and automobiles, we were no exceptions. Despite the high cost, we wanted our home and two cars dependent on 100% clean and renewable energy. Why?