MLPs didn’t have their best year in 2012, being up just 4.8% on a total return basis, vs the SP500 at 16%. It was the first time in 12 years that MLPs underperformed the SP500. That makes me even more interested in them for 2013. Lets look at where MLPs Read more…
Warning, this is a somewhat geeky technical post! Besides accumulating more wealth by working longer there is one very direct way to increase your income in retirement. Beat the market’s return. Higher returns will lead to higher SWRs (safe withdrawal rates) for the most part. (The other way to increase Read more…
Happy New Year everyone. Hard to believe its 2013 already. Time to look back at 2012 and see how I did versus my retirement goals. For those interested the 2011 review is here and the 2010 review is here. This marks the end of our 3rd year living the full Read more…
Time for the final IVY portfolio trading signals for 2012. As usual you can see the signals at world beta or my preferred source dshort. Below are the signals for the end of December 2012. No new signals were triggered this month. The portfolio is fully invested just like it was last Read more…
Hope everyone is having a happy holiday season. We are in our winter location for this year, San Diego, enjoying the relatively warm weather, the surfing, hiking, catching up with friends, and just having an overall relaxing time. Today I wanted to follow up on my last post on investing Read more…
One thing that has always bugged me about retirement calculations is the lack of detail in most of the retirement data and recommendations. Take for example, the 4% safe withdrawal rate that I’ve discussed here many times in the past. The 4% rule says that 4% is the maximum amount Read more…
Do you know why you own bonds in your portfolio? There are many reasons to own bonds but one of the biggest reasons historically is no longer a good one for many investors. Bonds are often held in portfolios to provide a safe and steady source of income, in particular Read more…
A relatively non eventful month for my portfolio, especially compared to last month, but nonetheless there were a few changes made. Most of the changes that were made were short term in nature given my uncertainty in the market. All my IRA accounts are run on the IVY timing portfolio Read more…
Friday was the last trading day of November. Time to update the IVY timing signals. As usual you can see the signals at world beta or my preferred source dshort. Below are the signals for the end of November 2012. The new signal for the month is a buy signal for DBC. Read more…
We’re in the midst of a post election, fiscal cliff sell off with the stock market trying decide which way its going to head based on every single new headline out of Washington. Its usually best to avoid getting into this tug-of-war and wait until things settle out, unless you Read more…
You’d have to have been living in a cave, or dry camping in the wilds for 6 weeks like I was until a few weeks ago, to not have been bombarded by the 2 words that I allude to in the title of this post. I’ll try and spare you Read more…