Late Bloomer Wealth

Late Bloomer Wealth

Dedicated to Helping K12 Teachers with their 403(b) & 457(b) plans.

Do it yourself investors (DIY)

Michelangelo’s Famous Quote

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One of the most famous artists in the history of art Michelangelo Buonarroti’s offers a metaphor for discovering the basics of investing. Because we live in the 21st Century, Wall Street, Vanguard Group and TIAA (Teacher’s Insurance Annuity Association) have already created the pieces we need. All we have to do is “chip away” the material that doesn’t belong in our “David”–a very simple and easy to understand portfolio of stocks and bonds. I know this may seem like a stretch of my imagination, but please read on. This post is short and to the point!

September 30 3rdQ, 2016 Portfolio YTD Returns

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The Stock and Bond Markets are up again in the third quarter of 2016. Read how my portfolio has returned 6.7% after nine months. It’s really not complicated because my portfolio is straightforward. It’s constructed to gain when the core asset classes increase and loses value when the market goes down.
Losing is an important part of investing process, if not the most important part. The majority of people don’t understand it because they sell when their investment declines. Never sell, unless it is part of your plan, not because of bear market conditions. Have a plan and stick with it during ups and downs.

2nd Quarter 2016 Portfolio Returns

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It’s that time of the year, the Quarterly Reports. I really hope you find these reports helpful for a number of reasons:
1. Show you how a portfolio of diversified stocks, bonds, and cash looks like.

2. Show how this diversified portfolio performs in coordination with the stock and bond markets.

3. The individual holdings are not selected at random, but for the purpose of doing a specific and important job in the portfolio. It’s always about the portfolio as a whole performing package, not about the individual holdings.

4. Each holding reflects a specific part of the domestic and international stock and bond markets.

5. While some of the stock asset classes have high correlations, stock and bond allocations are not. Including bonds in my portfolio helps preserve my money against a major and lengthy stock market crash. This is known as the stock bond split. My portfolio is 30% stocks and 70% bonds. My 30% exposure to stocks provides enough risk that my portfolio should keep up with inflation (This is not a guarantee, it is part of my diversification and asset allocation plan).

6. This portfolio is an example of a conservative portfolio for a 69-year-old retiree.

Taxes, Life without Dan, 1st Quarter 2016 Performance

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What does grief, taxes, and the first quarter portfolio report have in common? Plenty. I discuss my challenge to do my taxes because Dan did our taxes, and to report how I am doing with life without Dan, and my portfolio first quarter report. I feel good that I completed my taxes with Turbo Tax–Dan would be proud.
I also am happy to report that my portfolio has regained all of the Year-to-Date loses and is up $30,000 YTD. Of course, this makes me feel good and helps with my grief of losing Dan five months ago. But what makes me the happiest is helping others through volunteer work and this blog. When I read what my friend Karen and her sister Therese did about with their finances, and the resulting contentment, security and peace of mind that they feel now, made me the happiest of all.

Karen Shares Her Financial Epiphanies

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An epiphany is defined by “a ​moment when you ​suddenly ​feel that you ​understand, or ​suddenly ​become ​conscious of, something that is very ​important to you.” Read this short story of my good friend’s financial epiphany and how all of her questions were answered by who she describes as an “independent financial adviser” she paid by the hour.

What can 2.5 months do to my boring portfolio performance?

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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

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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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