Permanent Value, Early Financial Independence and Retirement

How are you preparing for retirement? In June of last year (2017) the Federal Reserve Board published their "Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2016 - May 2017." In this report, one of the topics that they covered was retirement. What they found is that 28% of non-retired adult Americans do not have any retirement savings or pension at all.  In October of 2017 the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that roughly 52% of households age 55 and older had no retirement savings . The median amount of those who did have savings was roughly $109,000, which would equate to about $405 per month for a retired 65 year old adult. So how are you approaching your retirement? Are you putting it off and leaving your future to chance and government compensation, or are you going to take charge of your financial future and work towards achieving early financial independence and retirement? If you would like to read the full reports, the links are belo...

It is important to understand that investing your money into the market is inherently risky. However, you can control how much risk you take on depending on how you formulate your portfolio. This is why it is important to understand what your individual risk tolerance level is, so that you can properly shape your portfolio to make it fit to your level of comfort with the rises and falls of the market. A very helpful resource that can be used to calculate your individual risk number is a simple risk survey that is offered by a Riskalyze. Riskalyze is the company that invented the Risk Number™, the first-ever quantitative way to capture client risk tolerance, align portfolios to client expectations, and quantify the suitability of investments. You can click the button below to take the quick survey and discover what your Risk Number is.

Any sort of financial planning does not start with your investment portfolio, the first step is your budget. A monthly budget is the basis of all wealth accumulation, without it you run the risk of losing track of your expenses as well as where your income is going. Because of this, one of the first things that we walk through with our clients is how to set up a proper monthly budget. Below is an example of a monthly budget that will help you keep track of your income and expenses throughout the year. If you would like to get your budget started here is a free excel spreadsheet just like the one above that also includes pages for real estate properties. Download Click Here!

Although this excerpt from Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is pertaining mostly towards people who are looking to start a business, the same principles can be applied to anybody who is looking to become financially independent.  A while back I met a man who specializes in human behavior. Not sociopaths. Not freaks. People like you and me. I asked him, why do most people know they need to start a business or become an investor, but ultimately do nothing? His answer was not what I thought. It’s not because they don’t have the money. Ask any drug dealer, they NEVER have a money problem. Addicts can ALWAYS get money. So, I’m pretty sure that means the rest of us can too. It’s not because they don’t have the time. There is not a single person alive today who could not become more efficient with their time. It's because they don’t have... confidence. The rest are excuses we make up to hide the fact that we don’t have the confidence. I used to teach a course that focused...

For many, retirement is so far down the priority list of things that need to be thought about right now, but for a minute lets think about our financial future. The United States is currently 20 trillion dollars in debt , with Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security being the two largest budget items. What does this mean for those who are are only in their 30's and 40's? Refer to  http://www.usdebtclock.org/ if you want to better visualize the dire situation that the economy is currently in. I will leave you with just a few questions to consider before you return to worrying about the present day and decide for yourself whether or not you should take action regarding your retirement now. What does this deficit mean for your personal retirement? The minimum age for pulling from Social Security is already rising, how high do you think it will be when you want to look to retiring? How important to you is financial stability throughout your lifetime? Do you want to procr...