Wisdom on Wealth

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, May 24, 2015.

Question: I keep hearing and reading that I am supposed to be diversified in my investments. I feel dumb asking, but what does that even mean? 

Answer: The dumbest question is the one you never ask, so thanks for asking! 

Diversification is a risk reduction tool. 

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on January 21, 2015

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, May 17, 2015.

Question: I’ve got about three month’s living expenses in a bank account. It kills me to have all that money in a place that pays me exactly zero interest. Is there a problem with putting this money in a mutual fund? 

Answer: Yes, that would be a problem in my view. 

Originally published in The News Star on Sunday, May 10, 2015.

Question: Neither my wife nor I were raised in a home that taught us much about how to handle our finances. We are starting a family and we want to teach our children to be responsible with money. Tips?

Answer: First, don’t overreact. Whenever I hear a young parent say they want to avoid a deficiency in the way they were parented, I fear an overreaction. A little bit goes a long way in this area with children.

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on January 14, 2015

The following segment first aired on KEDM 90.3 on January 7, 2015

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, May 3, 2015.

Question: My wife is worried about us running out of money in retirement. But I don’t see any point in being rich when I’m too old to enjoy it. Where’s the balance here? 

Answer: We need to talk about the retirement smile. 

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, April 26, 2015.

Question: My CPA shocked me this year with the news that I owed the IRS more than half the income I earned. He said it had to do with my investments. I switched brokers last year, but I don’t understand why that mattered. They tax you for that?

Answer: You may a victim of your own success.

By Mike Jones, posted April 23rd, 2015

Spring usually brings with it milder weather and (lately) milder reallocations to our investment models.

I've noticed over the last several years that the 2nd quarter reallocations produced by my statistical and technical analysis yields minor adjustments. This year that "mild spring" trend continues. 

Originally published in The News Star and The Shreveport Times on Sunday, April 19, 2015.

Question: I have worked in the corporate world all my career. I’ve paid the maximum possible into Social Security most of that time. My wife, on the other hand, has been a teacher in a private school for her career. We both got our Social Security estimates online the other day and I could not believe how close they were. My income was multiples of hers, but she’s getting nearly half of what I’m getting. How does that work?

Answer: The deck is not exactly stacked in your favor.