Are You Retiring Within the Next 5 Years? and Investing in Agreement with Your Beliefs
by rwilczek on Mar 21, 2019
Thought you might find these articles of interest.
Rita
Are You Retiring Within the Next 5 Years?
What should you focus on as the transition approaches?
Provided by Rita Wilczek
You can prepare for your retirement transition years before it occurs. In doing so, you can do your best to avoid the kind of financial surprises that tend to upset an unsuspecting new retiree.
How much monthly income will you need? Look at your monthly expenses and add them up. (Consider also the trips, adventures and pursuits you have in mind in the near term.) You may end up living on less; that may be acceptable, as your monthly expenses may decline. If your retirement income strategy was conceived a few years ago, revisit it to see if it needs adjusting. As a test, you can even try living on your projected monthly income for 2-3 months prior to retiring.
Should you downsize or relocate? Moving into a smaller home may reduce your monthly expenses. If you will still be paying off your home loan in retirement, realize that your monthly income might be lower as you do so.
How should your portfolio be constructed? In planning for retirement, the top priority is to build investments; within retirement, the top priority is generating consistent, sufficient income. With that in mind, portfolio assets may be adjusted or reallocated with respect to time, risk tolerance, and goals: it may be wise to have some risk-averse investments that can provide income in the next few years as well as growth investments geared to income or savings objectives on the long-term horizon.
How will you live? There are people who wrap up their careers without much idea of what their day-to-day life will be like once they retire. Some picture an endless Saturday. Others wonder if they will lose their sense of purpose (and self) away from work. Remember that retirement is a beginning. Ask yourself what you would like to begin doing. Think about how to structure your days to do it, and how your day-to-day life could change for the better with the gift of more free time.
How will you take care of yourself? What kind of health insurance do you have right now? If you retire prior to age 65, Medicare will not be there for you. Check and see if your group health plan will extend certain benefits to you when you retire; it may or may not. If you can stay enrolled in it, great; if not, you may have to find new coverage at presumably higher premiums.
Even if you retire at 65 or later, Medicare is no panacea. Your out-of-pocket health care expenses could still be substantial with Medicare in place. Extended care is another consideration – if you think you (or your spouse) will need it, should it be funded through existing assets or some form of LTC insurance?
Give your retirement strategy a second look as the transition approaches. Review it in the company of the financial professional who helped you create and refine it. An adjustment or two before retirement may be necessary due to life or financial events.
Rita Wilczek may be reached at (952) 542-8911 or rwilczek@hirep.net
www.ritawilczek.com
This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate. Please note - investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment. Investments seeking to achieve higher rate of return also involve a higher degree of risk.
Investing in Agreement with Your Beliefs
The case for aligning your portfolio with your outlook & worldview.
Provided by Rita Wilczek
Do your investment choices reflect your outlook? Are they in agreement with your values? These questions may seem rather deep when it comes to deciding what to buy or sell, but some great investors have built fortunes by investing according to the ethical, moral, and spiritual tenets that guide their lives.
Sir John Templeton stands out as an example. Born and raised in a small Tennessee town, he became one of the world’s richest men and most respected philanthropists. Templeton maintained a lifelong curiosity about science, religion, economics, and world cultures – and it led him to notice opportunities in emerging industries and emerging markets (like Japan) that other investors missed. Believing that “every successful entrepreneur is a servant,” he invested in companies that did no harm and which reflected his conviction that “success is a process of continually seeking answers to new questions.”1
Among Templeton’s more famous maxims was the comment, “Invest, don’t trade or speculate.” Having endured the Great Depression as a youth, he had a knack for spotting irrational exuberance.2,3
As the 1990s drew to a close, he correctly forecast 90% of internet companies would have financial difficulties within five years. In 2003, he warned investors of a housing bubble that would soon burst; in 2005, he predicted a huge stock market downturn. To Templeton, a rally or an investment opportunity had to have sound fundamentals; if it lacked them, it was dangerous.3,4
Warren Buffett leaps to mind as another example. The “Oracle of Omaha” is worth $82.8 billion – yet he still lives in the same house he bought for $31,500 in 1958, and prefers cheeseburgers and Cherry Coke to champagne or caviar. He was born to an influential family (his father served in Congress), but he has maintained humility through the decades.5,6
Money manager Guy Spier dined with Buffett in 2008 at one of the billionaire’s annual charity lunches, and in his book The Education of a Value Investor (co-written with TIME correspondent William Green), he shares a key piece of advice Buffett gave him that day: “It’s very important always to live your life by an inner scorecard, not an outer scorecard.” In other words, act and invest in such a way that you can hold your head high, so that you are staying true to your values and not engaging in behavior that conflicts with your morals and beliefs.6
Buffett has also cited the need to be truthful with yourself about your strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities – as you invest, you should not be swayed from your core beliefs to embrace something that you find mysterious. “You have to stick within what I call your circle of competence. You have to know what you understand and what you don’t understand. It’s not terribly important how big the circle is. But it’s terribly important that you know where the perimeter is.”6
Speaking to a college class in Georgia, he cited the real reward for a life well lived: “When you get to my age, you’ll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you. I know people who have a lot of money, and they get testimonial dinners and they get hospital wings named after them. But the truth is that nobody in the world loves them. If you get to my age in life and nobody thinks well of you, I don’t care how big your bank account is, your life is a disaster.”6
Not every deal Buffett has made has been perfect, but he’s happy to acknowledge missteps and treat them as learning experiences. That unpretentiousness may be part of his mystique.7
Values and beliefs helped guide Templeton and Buffett to success in the markets, in business, and in life. For all the opportunities they seized, and ups and downs they faced, their legacy will be that of humble and value-centered individuals who knew what mattered most.
Today, socially responsible investing is more widespread than ever. Investors who want their portfolios to better reflect their beliefs and values often turn to “socially responsible” investments – or alternately, “impact” investments, which respond to environmental issues, women’s rights issues, and other pressing societal concerns. The Global Impact Investors Network investigated impact investing in their annual survey. Respondents reported they held $228 billion in impact investment assets, nearly twice that reported in the previous year. This speaks to the growing popularity of impact investing. Working with a financial professional can be a big help in balancing your values with a deeper understanding of the market.8
Rita Wilczek may be reached at (952) 542-8911 or rwilczek@hirep.net
www.ritawilczek.com
This material was prepared by MarketingPro, Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. This information has been derived from sources believed to be accurate. Please note - investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is neither a solicitation nor recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment.
Citations.
1 - forbes.com/sites/alejandrochafuen/2013/05/07/how-to-invest-think-and-live-like-sir-john-templeton/ [5/7/13]
2 - record-eagle.com/news/local_news/jason-tank-finding-the-right-mindset-is-good-start/article_42c81b99-c7c9-5fa1-83b3-4fa2f9c1c641.html [5/5/15]
3 - crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2014/02/sir-john-templeton-the-last-yankee.html [2/10/14]
4 - csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2008/0711/p09s01-coop.html [7/11/08]
5 - forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett [3/6/19]
6 - observer.com/2015/05/ive-followed-warren-buffett-for-decades-and-keep-coming-back-to-these-10-quotes/ [5/4/15]
7 - fortune.com/2019/02/25/buffett-kraft-heinz/ [2/25/19]
8 - forbes.com/sites/jpdallmann/2018/12/31/impact-investing-just-a-trend-or-the-best-strategy-to-help-save-our-world [12/31/18]