Steve’s Blog

Over the past century, markets have crashed A DOZEN TIMES, several times by more than fifty percent, leaving people’s finances and dreams in disarray for YEARS.  Not only is money lost, but TIME is lost. It takes time to build up a nest egg. The last thing anyone...

During your working years, you get paid for your expertise. When your working years end, you need to find investments that pay you for waking up in the morning. Typically, the most effective way to get paid to own your investments in retirement is to allocate a large...

Most investors in or near retirement are looking for three main things with their nest eggs:  1) ample liquidity 2) permanent, worry-free income to cover all expenses, and 3) an effective and systematic way to grow money in the stock market over time. The stock market...

Many people own revocable living trusts and consider the idea of making their trust the beneficiary of their IRA. Even before new laws were proposed, the idea was problematic. Unless your trust is specifically worded using what is known as a “conduit provision”, the trust may be a poor choice for an IRA, 401k, 403b, or TSP beneficiary.

Everyone is seeking the ideal investment: 20% annual returns, 100% safe, 100% liquid. Here's the problem: It doesn't exist. Today with 10 year treasury bonds paying in the range of 1.5% in the USA and nearly .7% NEGATIVE rates in Germany (one of the world's most...

Knowing what you can control in this world--and what you can't--is the first step in planning your successful retirement. Financially speaking, once you give up your paychecks from work there is a simple phrase you've heard often that must become your mantra: "Hope...

It’s hard to blame investors for trying to save on fees and expenses when they invest their hard earned money. After all, most of us have a natural desire to save money on just about everything we do. We were raised that way—a penny saved is still a penny earned. In...

2016 Was The Year Of The Value Stock, 2017 Was All About Momentum and Growth Stocks. 2018: Enter the Dragon (Jerome Powell of the Fed). 2019? The China Trade Deal and the Fed Will Determine The Market's Fate Many people right now have come to a mountain pass in their...

The unfortunate truth about variable annuities is that they have given the industry a "black eye" allowing annuity critics and "haters" (like Ken Fisher) to state that all annuities have "high fees." This is false. Of the four main categories of annuities, only...

The return on a stock market investment is twofold. First is the dividend, which pays YOU, the stockholder an ongoing cash return of investment capital. The second is the growth in the price of the shares, which offers the investor the possibility of selling at a...