Quarterly Report by Steve Many in the professional adviser community regard psychology as a significant factor in investing. I have two degrees in psychology and one in Educational Psychology. I loved my college majors. I discovered by accident that my college major played a significant and positive role in my development and discovery process to …
Before you scroll down to my tables that reflect 2023 portfolio return as a whole, needless to say, 2023 turned out to be an outstanding stock and bond year! Everything went up! But the year started slow for three quarters and finished in the 4th quarter with nine straight weeks of gains for all five …
2023 Financial Retirement Year Review! A GREAT YEAR! Read More »
Hi Family, friends, colleagues, and readers, This is a long half-year report as I combine my travels, books I read, cancer diagnosis and recovery, and my volunteer work on the Los Angeles Unified School District Advisory Committee (Click here and scroll down to the Retirement Investment Advisory Committee, RIAC link) with how my portfolio has performed year-to-date to …
Year-to-Date Half Way Mark 2023 Portfolio Report by Steve Read More »
Happy End of the First Quarter of 2023 Everybody! We all should be a least a little positive about the market performance in the first quarter, 2023. Yeah I know we are not out of the scary patch just yet. What can I say? The markets have struggled up and down for the past quarter …
First Quarter 2023 Report of Steve’s Retirement Portfolio Read More »
Sorry I am so late in getting my Year to Date Report. At the moment, I feel fine but as we all know and probably agree, we can’t wait for this year to be over. What terrible times we live in. Now I know what Americans were going through during the “War Years” of WWII but at least people could get together. This is terrible and with all of our social unrest here and around the world, RBG dying, the continuing spread of COVID with no end in sight, and something big on the first Tuesday next month! At least the election will be decided. Survey after survey about the historical effects of presidential elections was neutral. The only effect on a candidate winning and losing is the economy. If the economy is negative the incumbent is defeated, and if the economy is good, the opposite. But the stock market reflects hundreds of variables (GDP, interest rates, consumer confidence and spending, manufacturing data, employment rate, geopolitical tensions, trade wars, and on and on) and not just who gets elected. The most influential factor is our fellow investors’ BEHAVIOR!
Stock Markets, Finances, and Politics are Time Bombs for our Emotions!
My portfolio is up only because the stock and bond markets are up too. Recall that my portfolio follows the market. I have been incredibly lucky with my 67% bond allocation as interest rates dropped my bonds went up in value. Guess what? So has my portfolio. Take a look at my graphs and tables. Have a great day and see you at the end of this terrible year for my annual 2020 report.
I have been accused that all I think about is finances and money. When I discuss the seemly absurd idea that most adults can self-manage their money without an adviser, the response from most people, especially from financial advisers, “not everybody is interested in money as you are…” blah, blah, BLAH!
I have heard that response so many times that I am no longer insulted. The fact is that I have some interest in money, finance, and investing because I was taken advantage of by unscrupulous insurance agents masquerading as a financial adviser. I had to learn this stuff for my protection! I despise Wall Street values and found a strategy of investing that bypasses those self-conflicting values. Interest in managing my finances and sharing with others doesn’t necessarily mean the I love this stuff. I don’t. It is an unfortunate necessity to be financially literate. I am grateful that I can manage my money without an adviser.
While I do read, blog, and write books on personal finance, I provide the following evidence that I am interested in other topics. Look at the books I have read since January 2020:
“The things They Carried” by Tim O’brian a Vietnam story by a veteran (I am a Vietnam Veteran)
“The Science of Religion” by Paramahansa Yoga (I am a Buddhist practitioner and student)
“Walking a Sacred Path” by Dr. Lauren Artress (Our Wedding destination was on a Labyrinth in the middle of the desert!)
“The Waterworks” by E.L. Doctorow (Never Read Doctorow work, happy I did because the setting was 19th century NYC)
“After Dinner Tales” by Angus Whyte (Angus was in my critique group when he suddenly died a year ago. His tales are hilarious, and he was an exceptionally good writer)
“A View from the Back of the Candy Store” by Ken White (Ken is a friend. I am so proud of him for publishing his book after five years in the making. What an interesting life of a successful interior design professional setting up shop in incredibly competitive Los Angeles. He read every chapter of his interesting and inspirational life to our critique group and gives us credit for this book by helping him in so many ways to put “pen to paper”).
“The Critical Media Literacy Guide” by Douglas Kellner and Jeff Share (Jeff is a long-time friend who teaches K12 teachers at UCLA. I want to collaborate with his work to combine media literacy and financial literacy).
I have reread parts of a book published in 1970 that is still prevalent today 50 years later! “The Greening of American” by Charles A. Reich. He predicted new ways of thinking about our culture and life that are still being worked out in 2020).
Finance books:
“The Bogleheads Guide to the Three-Fund Portfolio” by Taylor Larimore. Another simple portfolio that anybody can construct.
“The Future of Capitalism” by Lester Thurow (Scary stuff about the potential social problems caused by inequality of income may be coming to fruition today. He was prophesizing to both the private industry and the politicians to do something 25 years ago when this book was written!)
Rereading Benjamin Graham’s classic “The Intelligent Investor”. Graham was Warren Buffett’s mentor and a Columbia University Economics Professor who contribute much to the financial world. Graham died in 1973. Despite this almost half century old book, his thoughts on investing for this rank amateur is profoundly some of the most basic strategies I use today. One of the most important topics Graham professed is the investor’s “temperament.” When you are mindful, your chances of investing success will surprise you. I am profoundly surprised and grateful that I know this stuff that Graham writes about through John Bogle and the index investing revolution that is everywhere in 2020.
The major events of 2020 are unprecedented as you will read from a perspective of a retiree who has experienced many terrible times our country and the world has faced in my lifetime.
My work here is to hopefully inspire you that as we go through this mess and we are going to be OK, perhaps even stronger than before the epidemic.
Enjoy my Year-to-Date Report on all things personal and financial.
African killer bee attack, Bobcat visit, deadliest stock market crash since the 1930s and the worldwide pandemic did not deter Georgiana and me from getting married on Saturday, March 21st. However, it was not without major emotional and strategic adjustments in how and where we married.
On the morning of March 12th, we still intended to follow thru on our original wedding plans involving 50 guests at a beautiful venue. Georgiana, my fiancé, worked hard for weeks. The setting was a beautiful outdoor destination wedding on a little known but ancient labyrinth where our vows would have been exchanged with an outdoor dinner, toasts, first dance, cake cutting and DJ dancing after watching the sunset on the first day of spring. We had never had a formal wedding before, so we were looking forward to our day.
However, as we know now, events beyond our control changed everything. The COVID-19 scare had massive negative effects on our economy, our collective emotions and the financial markets. At the end Thursday, March 12, the broad markets DOW, Nasdaq and the S&P500 lost 10%, the biggest percentage loss in 33 years! In dollar amounts, my 7-figure portfolio declined $60,000!
We started getting messages from our wedding guests who decided not to come for obvious reasons, the virus news was not only getting worse by the day but by the hour too. We thought it would be safe because the ceremony and celebration will be held outdoors. But we were wrong and decided to cancel as the writing was on the wall. Our governor ordered a stay at home policy.
What a week leading up to March 21st! Everything CHANGED again! Read about one of the happiest days of my life but also the scariest, NOT because my portfolio had declined, but because of the unknown virus that is now spreading throughout the world, and here at home. And then what a whipsaw week for the markets, up and down, but mostly down continued until the end of March and the time for this Quarterly Report.
Read how Georgiana and I managed to marry safely and with family and friends attending “virtually” with “Plan B.” We took necessary precautions as recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
Despite the terrible time our country and the world are going through, you can be assured that old fashion planning ahead still works. With mindful flexibility, following common-sense health precautions and getting your financial emotions under control long before negative markets strike, as of right now, our private life and our finances are fine. We are grateful and lucky.
Since this is a financial blog, read and see how my portfolio performed as expected, complete with visual graphs and tables, and wedding pictures, and additional surprises.
You may have read many blogs or heard the vital questions to ask your financial adviser. They range from 5 to 20, 30 questions or more. People mean well but it’s too many questions. I think asking that many questions are a waste of time because financial advisers are paid to keep you calm about your money. And they are incredibly good about answering every question!
Hence, there are two problems, a. you have nothing to in mind to compare, and b. the sheer number of questions is a gold mine for the adviser because they can talk excessively while not provide anything of value.
So I reduced the number of questions to just two. Because
a. I will give you the answers about my portfolio, so you have answers in mind when you talk with your adviser.
b. you can focus on two of the most key details of how your investments are performing compared to the broad stock and bond market returns, and you can begin to monitor your financial adviser to confirm that he or she is looking out for your best interests.
In the final analyses, when it comes to your financial portfolio and you hired a financial adviser, the following two questions could change your relationship for good with both your adviser and your precious savings and investments forever.
Happy New Year!
2020 has a great beginning for me personally and for my portfolio economically. The incredible 2020 beginning is a direct result of 2019 out of the ordinary stock and bond market returns. Who would have predicted a year ago that my Vanguard total bond and the total international bond market would go up 8%!
Happy Summer. I think it is safe to say that most people would admit that summer is our favorite season. It’s my favorite for one good reason, my birthday is in July! There is nothing negative with plenty of sunshine, warm air and fluffy clouds to keep all of the lush greenery alive and growing. It is also the halfway point and a time to gauge our investments to see if our portfolios are behaving and growing like the summer flora all around us. Is my portfolio following a similar path of returns with the broad domestic and world stock and bond markets?
Hope you enjoy my presentation about how my portfolio of stocks and bonds performs with the overall stock and bond markets.