Financial insecurity is a reality for many Americans. 56% of people say they look favorably on their finances, yet 57% feel they are unprepared for a financial emergency. 50% would claim to be financially secure.
We are retired educators. Our blog and our personal finance books are about how two educators without any formal financial training, started saving late, made mistakes, learned from these experiences and still managed to save enough for our retirement so we could say adios to the classroom earlier than most educators who have not saved.
The author explains and addresses, head-on, the many problems with the financial industry’s relationship to regular investors.
This Pie Chart is our Diversified Portfolio as of June 30, 2015 (Click directly on the Pie Chart to Enlarge it) An Experiential Insight Into Bonds: Maturity (long-term vs short-term) horizon, government vs. corporate, highly rated vs lower rated (risk of getting your money back) and their place in the portfolio. What are the riskiest bonds? …
Happy Belated 4th of July! How did your retirement investment portfolio perform at the half-way mark of 2015? After years of 24/7 chatter about interest rates, the Federal Reserve Board announced that it will raise interest rates by the end of the year. They haven’t yet, but the mere prospect of higher interest rates hit our bond …
A Review for the Millennial Generation who Seek Financial Freedom: Mr. Money Mustache and White Coat Investor Have you ever thought of managing your own money without an expensive financial adviser? Or just needed somebody you can trust not to rip you off with commissions, and high advisory fees? If you have followed our blog here, that’s precisely what …
Top Personal Finance Blogs by Young and Highly Successful Do-It-Yourselfers Read More »
Many people just want to throw up their hands and give up. But not one reader. She asked the perfect question. She wondered if there existed an easier way to learn to invest just enough to manage her own money. Yeah! This blog is for beginners to confidently understand, benefit from and succeed in learning how to invest for retirement. Thus, Dan and I developed this four-part series for beginner investors.
Part 1 of a 4 part series for the absolute beginner. Knowing what to ignore is half of the challenge of becoming a do-it-yourselfer. Parts 2, 3 and 4 are the specific knowledge needed for constructing a portfolio of stocks and bonds.
Part 2: How Wall Street Organizes Stocks and Bonds Since 2008, we have heard negative news about Wall Street. While much of it is true, we can be thankful for one Wall Street historical contribution. In Part 2, we continue our journey of discovering what Wall Street has already done to make investing simple. Understanding …
Part III: The Stock/Bond Allocation Split and Rebalancing Since 2008, a retired friend has put 100% of his money in cash. He recently asked if it’s time to get back into the stock market. You already recognize our friend’s major mistake–100% into anything is not diversification. Still, we can tell a lot about our friend’s …