How Much Should I Save?
How much should I save for retirement? How much are your other clients saving for retirement? We dive into our client data in this post.
How much should I save for retirement? How much are your other clients saving for retirement? We dive into our client data in this post.
Two years ago, we first met with Pacer ETFs, a boutique Pennsylvania-based investment firm. After multiple meetings and extensive due diligence, we added their US Cash Cows 100 ETF (symbol: COWZ) to our investment models. This fund owns the 100 American companies with the highest free cash flow yield. Our conviction in this investment metric has grown over the past two years. Accordingly, we recently added two more "Cash Cow" funds to client portfolios.
Consider this list akin to a New Year's Resolution list, only these items are meant to [mostly] be easy to do.
In our first quarter market update, we offer our usual dose of optimism. This includes a historical look at what happens after a big up year in the stock market (such as we had in 2023), signs of a strengthening US economy, the folly of stock market predictions, and a 200-year chart of returns from US stocks, bonds, gold, and the US dollar.
tl;dr version of this post: all-time highs in the stock market usually mean the stock market will be even higher one year hence. The stock market has been sitting at an all-time high for nearly 30% of its history; it's quite common.
As the ground layer of the financial planning pyramid, cash management is the foundation of your financial plan. If you can’t manage what comes in and out every month, then your financial plan won’t have the stability required to be able to focus on the other layers of the pyramid.
While a novel could be written on SVB and Signature Bank (and we’re sure Netflix is already working on the docuseries), our message to clients remains the same as it is during every crisis – be it large or small: stay the course.
The Secure Act 2.0 was signed into law on December 29th, 2022. SECURE stands for "Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement". While the bill itself is not easy reading, it is important to understand the direct ways in which the legislation affects TWG clients.
A group of our advisors recently read The Gap and the Gain, by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It’s a short book with a simple, powerful message: Instead of focusing on how far away I am from where I want to be (The Gap), I should focus on how far I have come from where I started (The Gain).
We have seen an increasing number of our clients encounter attempts at scamming them out of money. As your team of advisors, we care deeply about your financial security. When scammers succeed, it is often by getting someone to act quickly before having the chance to think about what is being asked of them. Our hope is that promoting awareness will help our clients recognize any tricks before it’s too late.
The broad US stock market just experienced its 11th-worst 6-month period since 1971. It’s always possible that markets get worse before they get better. Yet, history has shown that stocks tend to do well following a [very] bad stretch.