'Order from Chaos' Blog

There is a famous quote from Harry Truman that goes like this: 

Give me a one-handed economist. All my economists say, 'On one hand...', and then 'But on the other...'

So let's play two-handed economist and lay out some of the key plusses and minuses of the market landscape. We have just had a historic month with:

When people warn you that having kids is expensive, it’s no joke. From diapers to food, braces to sports activities the costs add up quick. For a middle-income family in the U.S. raising a child up until age 18, costs an estimated average of $245,340 (or $304,480, adjusted for projected inflation), according to the 2013 “Cost of Raising a Child” report from the U.S.

As of December 2018, more than 43.7 million retired Americans collected Social Security, with more than 8 million disabled workers collecting benefits as well. But Social Security is much more than retirement income. Along with providing a small income to millions of seniors, Social Security also provides life insurance as well as survivor benefits.

While it’s highly recommended that we use a financial advisor when we start to grow our investment portfolio, there are a lot of things you can do before you ever speak to a financial advisor to grow and maintain your investment portfolio. Investing, like everything else in life, has no guarantees, and even the hottest stock or the best tip may not always perform the way we would like.

It's March already?!?  Time certainly goes by fast. One day you’re interviewing for your first job and the next thing you know you’re a few short years from applying for Social Security.

The Date:  Spring, 1985

The Place:  Computer Lab (remember those?), Stanford University Graduate School of Business

If you have read any literature on retirement planning or have received advice from a financial professional, chances are you were presented with the 70% rule, the one that suggests that retirees will need between 70 and 80% of their pre-retirement income in order to maintain their standard of living.

One of the principal tenets of investing is that no one single investment is right for everyone. Every investment has certain characteristics, risks, and objectives that must match those of the investor, and fixed annuities are no different.

As anyone would have expected, the extraordinary convergence of extreme stock market volatility, low interest rates, declining home values, diminished retirement savings accounts, and chronic economic sluggishness has taken a severe toll on the American psyche. For many investors, it may have forever altered the way in which risk is perceived and managed.