FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
Three Fascinating Books I Read This Year
As the year ends, I wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your continued support. I have received notes of thankfulness, encouragement, and feedback - I appreciate them all! If you have a friend or family member that you think might benefit from these posts, they can subscribe here or on the home page of my blog's website, Financial Field Notes.
Here are three books that I found particularly informative this year…
The “Parent Match” - Starting Kids on Savings
Our 5-year-old has certain tasks that he has to do because he’s just part of the family. However, this year my wife and I started giving our 5-year-old a dollar for certain “above and beyond” chores – unloading the dishwasher, pooper scooping, picking weeds, etc.
He needed a place to put this dollar, so I got him his very first wallet. After he had accumulated a few dollars, we took him to 5 Below and he bought a plastic plane that the dog proceeded to chew apart that night – ahh the joys of teaching about a sunk cost…
Potential Pitfalls In Bond Investing
Last year around this time I published an article, Potential Pitfalls In Bond Investing. What followed was the worst year for bonds in decades. I’d like to think I timed the article perfectly, but it was more a coincidence than anything. I watched over the years as the bond market composition changed dramatically, particularly the average maturity of bonds increasing by over 50% from 4 years to 6+ years in the past decade.
This resulted in a painful year for passive bond owners this year as long-term bonds got hammered. I wanted to reshare the post because the principles still apply as you consider how to invest in bonds going forward…
End-of-Year Tax Prep Checklist
With the year coming to a close, below are 23 year-end planning tax items that I review for my clients.
Reviewed maxing out 401(k) or employer-sponsored plan.
Reviewed next year's 401(k) contribution limits and adjust withholdings in January.
Contributed to IRA or…
Who Is Buying In This Market?
A client recently asked, “Who is buying in this market?” It’s a great, simple question. If you turn on the news, it sure sounds like everyone is selling. But that is not the case. SPY, one of the most widely held ETFs has an average trading daily volume of 86 million shares - which equates to approximately $32 Billion trading hands every day.
For each seller represented here, there is a buyer. Even on a really bad day in the stock market, the fact alone that the market doesn’t fall to $0 means that there has to be buyers. So, who are the buyers?
A Unique Widow Social Security Claiming Strategy
Are you a widow or do you know someone who is a recent widow? If so, this strategy may be worth considering between the ages of 60 and 70.
Under Social Security, widows are entitled to a widow benefit as early as age 60, two years earlier than the earliest filing option of 62 for most retirees. The unique strategy that can be used here is filing for only widow benefits while allowing your own Social Security benefit to continue growing until the maximum age of 70…