When my grandparents took early retirement at age sixty-two, they did pretty much what everyone of their era did: My grandfather had worked for the same company for more than thirty years while my grandmother stayed at home and raised the family. When my grandfather retired, they sold their home up north and moved to Florida. They put all of … Read More
Should You Pay Off Your Mortgage?
Planning for retirement brings up numerous and varied questions about how best to plan for your financial future. One of those often is: Should you pay off your mortgage? The short answer is yes. One of the best ways to lessen the stress of worrying about the economy or the direction of the stock market is to own your home debt … Read More
Filtering Out Good Financial Advice vs. Financial Advice That’s Good for You
These financial “gurus” reach millions of people a day, and for the most part, give pretty good advice. However, that doesn’t mean that their advice is good for you. Why? The financial shows they advise for are geared towards the sound bite; entertaining, generic, broad, and quick. For example, a common piece of advice given is that a Roth … Read More
Incredible Retirement Tip: How To Measure Market Performance
Can you tell me how your investment portfolio performed last year? Don’t worry, this isn’t a trick question. Some of you will probably answer that your holdings were up X% from the previous year or that you outperformed the stock market. That is one way to assess your investment success but, in my view, it’s not the right way. … Read More