The safe withdrawal rate (SWR) that I’ve discussed in several posts (here, here, here) is a great tool to use for retirement planning and once in retirement. I’ve presented a range of SWRs from the super conservative 4% that has worked 100% of the time to the slightly more aggressive Read more
In an earlier post on risk management I discussed various methods of managing downside risk in a portfolio. One method I mentioned was a momentum strategy based on moving averages. Most would call such a strategy a market timing strategy even though that brings up a lot of negative connotations Read more
In earlier posts I’ve covered how much it takes to retire, the safe withdrawal rate (SWR), and one method of increasing the safe withdrawal rate. Today I wanted to cover the method I use to increase my SWR significantly without taking on any more risk. Sounds exciting huh? Well, maybe Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about risk management lately. A retiree faces a lot of risks but not the ones that are usually talked about. The biggest two, in my opinion, are suffering a very large portfolio decline and retirement income not keeping up with inflation and taxes. This is Read more
I wanted to start discussing some alternative investment strategies that are often not discussed or a just dismissed outright as being too risky. Today, I’ll start with structured products. A structured product is a fancy name for an investment vehicle that combines a traditional investment, like a bond, with a Read more
Modern finance theory teaches that market risk is measured by the volatility of asset prices. Just calculate the standard deviation of asset returns and there you have it – risk. But risk of what? Volatility measures risk as how much your portfolio varies over time (also to the upside remember). Read more
All markets experience periods of excesses. It looks to me as if we’re getting to one of these times with the fixed income markets. The news item that led me to this post was about a foreign bond – ‘Mexico floats century bond in a hungry market’. An excerpt from Read more
High investment fees hurt. We should all try to minimize them. Conventional wisdom, right? In one way you would think so with the rise of firms like Vanguard, discount brokers, ETFs, etc… On the other hand, there has been the massive rise of hedge funds, derivatives, and other esoteric products Read more
The goal of many, if not most, retired dividend investors is to generate enough income via dividends to cover their living expenses. And additionally to have that dividend stream increase faster than inflation. Sounds like a great goal. If you can achieve it then you can let the principal ride Read more
Well, the Gators got slaughtered this weekend and it looks like I’ll lose at least one of my fantasy football matches today. But I do have the Dolphins left tomorrow night against the Pats – there’s still some hope to salvage the weekend. A quick investment blurb for this rainy Read more
I’ve discussed the 4% withdrawal rule, the safe withdrawal rate (SWR), a couple of times already; in my post on how much does it take to retire and the one on how to actually use the 4% rule. Great, we’re all prepared for a safe and happy retirement. But wouldn’t Read more