In the last two installments of the Five Seasons Financial Planning blog, Articles on Wealth Management Topics, we spent a fair amount of time discussing inflation and the risk it poses to retirees' finances. If anything, inflation has become even more of a concern since then.
Getting good grades can dramatically reduce total college expenses in a number of ways. Beyond bribing your kids and grandchildren in return for academic performance, here are some other tips and tools to keep college expenses under control:
With the bond universe ranging from " ... obscenely overpriced to somewhere on the expensive side of fair value", and with most major U.S. stock indices within shouting distance of all-time highs, the current market environment is presenting a quandary not just to financial advisors but to investors as well. The investing public with cash on the sidelines seem torn between the fear of missing out on a further rally in stocks and the fear of committing capital at valuations that have often presaged middling returns, if not nasty bear markets. Consequently, a question clients have been posing recently is: Is it better to commit new money to the markets as fast as possible, or is it better to dollar-cost average our way into the markets over time?
Your ability to successfully fund your retirement and to finance your other financial objectives is dependent on your net worth, i.e. your assets less your liabilities. So whenever you have excess cash flow, whether as a result of a one-time windfall like an inheritance or simply by virtue of your income exceeding your expenses on an ongoing basis, a conscious decision should be made whether to invest/save on the one hand or to reduce debt on the other.