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Real World Retirement Planning

March 3, 2021November 3, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

If you’ve read much in the personal finance world, or even just the occasional news story from the business section of your local paper, you are probably well aware of the non-stop stream of headlines about how people are not prepared to retire. Chances are you have visions of old people shut up in their homes clustered around a single candle for light and warmth. But, is this reality, or just great financial copy? A recent Marketwatch article reports on a survey where almost 80 percent of retirees found it easier than they thought to adjust their lifestyle and spending for retirement. This matches more closely with my experience as a financial advisor than the alarmist headlines do. Some real world retirement planning is all you really need. Retirement Crisis for All? As is so often the case, the reality of finances is very individual. As a result, generalizations are often inaccurate for large swaths of people, even while being correct for many others. When I was a Certified Financial Planner, the reality is that I had a lot more clients who were planning for retirement than those who were actually retired. I never did a financial plan for someone …

Covid Investing – Just 1 Tip

December 1, 2020October 22, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

People keep asking me about how to invest based on Covid. Covid investing would be the idea of investing in the potential vaccine manufacturers, distributors, the company that makes glass vials, and things like that. Those company’s stocks are already up on the hope that they’ll benefit. It’s unlikely they are underpriced relative to risk at this point. However, there is an easier way to make a Covid investment. Covid Vaccine To update the original post I must point out that the potential Covid vaccine has arrived faster than I thought it would. The economy is still on the bring thanks to Congress’ inaction on a stimulus package, but in the short-term, expect investors to focus on the vaccine and what might mean for companies, with or without a stimulus. Watch for a lot of over-optimism in the vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer. If one of them comes out as the dominant winner, then that could really move the needle for them, but present a lot of risk for the others. In my opinion being the main vaccine provider is now priced into all three stocks with vaccines pending before the FDA. Unless they all get something like a third …

How Does Antitrust Suit Affect Google Stock Investment?

October 20, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

The Justice Department has filed its long-expected antitrust lawsuit against Google. The antitrust suit alleges, as they all do, that Google abuses its market dominance to the detriment of smaller rivals. On the one hand, this is an open and shut case. Google is clearly a market monopoly based on any real percentage of users, and there is no real competitor with anything resembling a noticeable market share. On the other hand, it isn’t really Google’s fault that it is the only search engine left. Yahoo, sold its search business to Microsoft following a greenmail attack from an “activist shareholder.” Microsoft itself spends untold millions to build and promote its Bing search engine, it’s just that the company was too late and now everyone is just used to Google for everything. I’ve been experimenting with the Duck Duck Go search engine, but it clearly isn’t funded at Google’s level. Again, that isn’t Google’s fault. Google Stock and the Monopoly Lawsuit How does the antitrust lawsuit affect Google’s stock? It doesn’t. Sure, traders will push the price up and down over events in the courtroom that seem to go for or against the company, but the reality is that a judgement, …

Roth IRA Income Limits 2022 and 2023

November 29, 2022October 9, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

The questions have started coming in regarding the 2022 and 2023 income limits for Roth IRA contributions. Planning ahead for taxes is always a good idea. However, sometimes, you can get out a little bit too far. The IRS publishes various numbers, tax brackets, and the like for the next tax year during the fall of the previous year, depending upon what the number is, and how it is to be calculated. Maximum salary limits for Roth IRA contributions in 2023, for example, were known well in advance because the number was set by the IRS in advance. However, the income limitations for Roth IRA contributions are indexed for inflation. In other words, the IRS must wait until it has the proper inflation index calculation according to its rules and regulations. Then, it must apply that inflation amount to the Roth IRA contribution limits for income and compute new Roth IRA income phase-out limits and the maximum salary allowed to make Roth contributions at all. Don’t forget, the law removing the salary cap for converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA has been made permanent, so you can convert your IRA to a Roth IRA regardless of how high …

How Is The Economy Doing?

October 7, 2020October 6, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

When it comes to the U.S. economy there are a lot of opinions. Many of those opinions have motivations behind them that tend to skew their analysis. So, who should you listen to about the economy? Well, you could do a lot worse than the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Economy Is Weak The U.S. recovery is weak, very weak. Although jobs are recovering, they are still lower than they were when the pandemic started. The opinion of the Fed Chairman is that the economy needs more help in the form of government stimulus. Of course, the politicians in Washington care more about Dems vs. Repubs than they do about America, so we are caught in petty fights while the economy sputters. Why The Economy Needs Help While politicians, especially the President, love to point to the stock market as proof the economy is doing well, most investors are very skittish right now. Any bad news at all, and they’ll turn into sellers, and take the market with it. Stimulus in the form of extra unemployment benefits has proven particularly helpful to the economy. Why? Because people on unemployment spend that money, and that stimulates the economy. Save money …

Budget Killers – Cell Phones

July 7, 2024October 2, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

I just realized that in the last 10 years I never wrote a basic budgeting article for Finance Gourmet. There are a few reasons for that. One, when you get going as a former financial advisor writing a real-world personal finance advice website, you want to jump into the juicy stuff. Two, once you have been writing that juicy stuff for a while, you just assume that you have covered some of those basics. And three, budgeting is actually a personal thing. What works for one person doesn’t work so well for others. Anyway, look for my basic budgeting article in the next few days. For today, I want to start my series on Budget Killers. As a financial advisor, and as a regular finance writer today, I have seen common things that blow up a budget. I’ve also seen less common things that blow up a budget (owning a horse, motorcycle racing, and more). Let’s start with one of the most common things that blows up a budget, cell phones. Cell Phone Budget Killers It isn’t uncommon to see monthly cell phone bills in the hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately, many people don’t see the costs adding up until it …

New Home Sales Up During Covid

September 24, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

An interesting wrinkle in the new Covid economy showed up today. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that new home sales in August rose by 4.8%, on top of a spike 13.9% in July. Buying New Homes Overall home sales are having difficulty in no small part because home buyers are reluctant to do several showings in a day in a Covid world. Those showings are what motivate buyers to purchase existing homes. Unlike existing home sales, new homes are typically sold via model homes. Model home are shiny, bright, and seem cleaner, even though more people may actually move through them each day. Furthermore, rather than having to see numerous homes to find the perfect one, buyers need only find a model they like. Builders then allow buyers to tweak that model. Low Mortgage Rates Record low mortgage rates are also helping drive sales for new construction. Unlike existing home sales that are dependent upon subjective appraisals, lenders can easily get a feel for the current value of the one of many new buildings a particular buyer looks to purchase. Is Zelle a scam? Finding a mortgage, however, even for new construction is getting harder. It turns out lenders …

ANOTHER Stock Market Correction?

September 21, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

Monday’s trading left the S&P 500 down a big chunk, and closing in on another stock market correction for the year. As we’ve talked about before, the stock market this year is very volatile moving up and down in big moves as investors, and their computer programs, make trades based upon how they think the economy will play out among the coronavirus issue. The most recent trend has been down. A Stock Market Correction The definition of a stock market correction is a decline of 10%. The catch these days is that the stock market peaks are often the result of a fast runup in the markets. As a result, the first three or four percent of any correction is nothing more than taking the top off of a potentially unwarranted wave that rose too fast. Check out my Acorns review So, here in we are in September facing down another correction for the market during 2019. As I write this, the stock market isn’t quite down enough to count as a recession, but it may very well get there later today, or even tomorrow. It is also possible the computer algorithms get tripped and start buying. Either way, the …

Fed Says 0% Interest For Years

September 16, 2020 by Finance Gourmet

According to news reports, the Federal Reserve will signal that its interest rate plan will remain unchanged through the end of 2023. These kinds of “leaks” are typically from Fed staffers trying to lessen any shock ahead of the actual Fed meeting. What 0% Interest For Three Years Means For starters, this is both a bold, and a baloney statement. It’s bold in that stating there will be no interest rate hikes for three years, the Fed is making a prediction about the U.S. economy and where it will be going and committing to 0%. It’s baloney, because if things go well coming out of the whole Corona virus thing and the U.S. economy roars ahead in 2021, or 2022, the Fed will just come out with a new statement saying that economic data dictate a new policy direction. So, what is the point of the Fed’s statement? Investors know how to make money. It isn’t about predicting the future, it’s about determining what the risk is and pricing it accordingly against the possible return. This is a lot easier than it sounds. It requires looking at an impossible number of variables, and weighing each one. In the end, the …