I'm going to ask you an uncomfortable question: are you sure you have enough disability insurance to cover the gap between what you earn and what you would collect if you were to suffer a disability event? I share a cautionary tale about a friend in this video. Let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to answer them.
My mother-in-law, who I love, is invested in a portfolio primarily of dividend paying stocks because she believes it is safer to live off the income generated by the dividends and interest income generated by her bond portfolio rather than dipping into and spending down the principal, that is, her investments, and I'm here to tell you that, frankly, I just don't agree with that. I believe a total return portfolio, that is, a portfolio that generates some income, but also is growing over time, is the better way to go. Find out why in this video!
To quote Peter Bernstein, an American economist, forecasts create the mirage that the future is knowable. The future is not knowable. There's just too much randomness in the world to know what's going to happen next. But there ARE things we can predict and control. P.S. If you know someone who could benefit from having a guide to lessen their anxiety during this market volatility, please share this video with them.
I get it. The stock market is volatile, and you're wondering whether to invest a lump sum, or invest in monthly increments, known as dollar cost averaging? I have two answers: one purely financial and one addressing the emotional aspects of investing. Which one is correct for you?
I'm a planner by trade. I love putting together spreadsheets with precise estimates of inflation rates and returns on various asset classes. My spreadsheets generate precise numbers. And the one thing I know for certain about these numbers is that they will be wrong! So does that mean that doing planning is foolhardy? Not at all. Having a plan in place enables you to course correct when the inevitable bumps and changes along the road of life occur. The important thing is not to confuse your plan with certainty. Do you have a financial plan? If so, how have you found it to be valuable in recent years?
We humans crave certainty and the knowledge that everything will be okay. I'm Laura Rotter of True Abundance Advisors. And I do want to acknowledge that we're right now, living through a period of time of uncertainty. We don't know what the markets will do near term. We don't know if the economy is currently in a recession or is going into a recession and that can be very anxiety provoking for many of us. And so I'm hoping I could help you reframe this, to see this as a period of time of opportunity.