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Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.
Gallop released its latest Optimism Index numbers early this week. The seven-year highs seem like a big deal even though it’s not even half of where it was in 2007.
The poll was conducted a month ago. I wonder where investors stand after the past two weeks? Squeamish? Skittish? Optimistically cautious? Walking on eggshells? Continue Reading…
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Would it surprise you that the S&P 500 historical returns tell an eerily similar story to the history of international stock returns. Despite it, people still see the market as a casino or they complicate it with some overly elaborate strategy.
The S&P is the standard benchmark for large cap performance. It’s also an index you can own via ETF or index fund. While the experts argue whether now is a great time to buy the S&P, history tells you a better story.
The S&P 500 has been around in some form since 1926. That gives us 88 years of annual returns to dig through. Since large cap stocks make up a big part of most allocations, this should give you an idea of what to expect from that piece of your portfolio.
Continue Reading…
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Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.
Much has been discussed lately about a lack of rising income. Higher wages is typically a sign of an improving economy, which we haven’t seen yet. As FiveThirtyEight points out, income has actually fallen for the average middle class worker over the past 15 years.
I doubt it’s a coincidence that incomes have stagnated at the same time the internet technology disruption has commoditized many products and services. Continue Reading…
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The million dollar question. Or is it two million? Either way, it’s hard to save for anything without knowing how much you need. When it comes to how much you need to retire, there’s no perfect answer.
The answer, in its entirety, is a series of educated guesses, along with dirty math, to come up with a fuzzy number you’ll need to live off throughout retirement.
I don’t say this to discourage you. Understand, we’re predicting the future based on past averages. You’re projections need to account for: inflation, expected returns (and an asset allocation to get you there), your ability to save, and your behavior along the way.
It’s simply not a perfect science. Retirement calculators work in a vacuum, reliant on fixed numbers. The economy and the stock market don’t move in a straight line or act rationally at all times. Continue Reading…
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Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.
Back in the day, apparently, everyone had bread but no toast. To fix this, and get people to save, banks gave away toasters. Okay, not really. But toasters and other kitchen items become giveaways for new account customers. Now, it seems, we’ve gone full circle. Continue Reading…
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International stocks are a great way to diversify away from the U.S. But when a home country bias is alive and well, it’s easy to ignore everything else. U.S. stocks have performed admirably in the past, but international stocks have too.
Since 1970, the S&P 500 performed at a 10.40% annual clip (with dividends). Did you know that during that same time, international stocks practically matched it?
You can try to hand-pick countries based on expected returns or go with a basket of countries that captures all that missed opportunity. The tables below show how international stock returns breakdown. Hopefully, it makes the argument to stop ignoring the big opportunity outside the U.S. Continue Reading…