Annuities or an Income Portfolio?

Print
PDF

Written by Rob Copeland | 14 May 2014

Many retirement-age clients have asked me for my view of annuities as a vehicle for converting their savings into a lifetime income stream. My view is that, while specific annuities may be part of the answer for certain investors, it's almost always a better idea to invest your nest egg in a balanced income portfolio.

Let's walk through the pros and cons of annuities for retirees. Annuities come in many variations—immediate, deferred, fix-rate and variable rate. They are attractive to many retirees who prefer the certainty of guaranteed, regular income to the potentially greater returns and higher volatility of conventional investment portfolios.

Read more...

Is The Market Rigged?

Print
PDF

Written by Rob Copeland | 09 April 2014

Is the stock market rigged? If you watched a recent "60 Minutes" interview with author Michael Lewis, you might think so.

Lewis was promoting his new book, "Flash Boys," which describes how tech geeks have gained an unfair advantage over the rest of us by using superfast trading technology. These high-frequency traders, Lewis says, use their technology to enrich themselves at other investors' expense.

The uproar over "Flash Boys" has investors concerned that they're the suckers in a game that's fixed. But my take is this: Regular investors don't have much to be concerned about from high-frequency trading.

Read more...

Time to Lock in Gains?

Print
PDF

Written by Rob Copeland | 07 March 2014

One of the hardest parts of investing is selling stocks or bonds that have done well. But that's exactly what you have to do when rebalancing your portfolio—and rebalancing is one of the smartest things you can do as an investor.

Balanced portfolios are built with specific proportions of stocks and bonds that act as counterweights. A typical balanced portfolio might include 60% stocks and 40% bonds, for example. The right balance for any individual may be different based on how aggressive or conservative they are.

Read more...

Beware of Retirement Benefit Pitfalls

Print
PDF

Written by Rob Copeland | 14 February 2014

Many of us look forward to the freedom of retirement with great anticipation.

But to have peace of mind about retirement, it's critical to do proper tax and estate planning for your retirement benefits. All too often, retirement plan participants and IRA owners make costly mistakes:

First, they fail to take required distributions by age 70 ½. This can be terribly expensive—the amount that you fail to withdraw will be taxed by the IRS at 50%. Yet I've seen this happen more than once. It often occurs when people have several IRAs or retirement plans, and they fail to keep track of them all.

Read more...

Resolve to Achieve Financial Success in 2014

Print
PDF

Written by Rob Copeland | 14 January 2014

How did you do in 2013? Did you meet your goals for investing? Did you manage to stay within your budget—did you even have a well-organized budget?

No matter what your successes or failures last year, the beginning of a new year is the time to reset your goals for the year ahead. Take pride in your past successes, but beware of complacency. If 2013 wasn’t as successful as you’d hoped, it’s time to move ahead with fresh plans.

Read more...

More Articles...