Retirement
Aging, a Trending Topic with Boomers
The difference between grieving and depression is important. Grieving, letting it go with all the painful wrenching that requires so much, is what prevents depression. Depression is hanging on to the hurt. Don’t do that.
Read MoreFaith Sustains a Free Enterprise Capitalistic System
Our monetary system depends on faith to function.
Read MoreAgeism – Getting Older Ain’t for Sissies Yet Our Humor Belittles Elders
#ageing #ageism #elderly Ageism is something many don’t recognize today as a concern worthy of their time. A reader recently sent me a series of cartoons about elderly people. Each panel poked fun at the commonplace inconveniences or afflictions of old age; i.e. incontinence, forgetfulness, general decrepitude, impotence, diminished libido, ineptitude, etc. The subjects were depicted…
Read MoreMidwestern Yankee in a Tar Heel State – Part II
I am a Midwesterner by birth. My grandfather homesteaded in South Dakota. Until my dad went off to college, he had never left his native state. My father referred to the northeastern part of the country as the Wicked East. “People out there,” he often said, “line up on one side of the room to…
Read MoreBarter Theater Stage II Presentation of “The Gin Game” — A Review
Perhaps a member of the audience needs to be at least 70 years old to realize that Director Eugene Wolfe missed the point of D. L. Coburn’s award winning play, “The Gin Game,” as it is currently being presented at The Barter Theater Stage II. Wolf failed to grasp that he had three actors on…
Read MoreVariable Annuities Insure Beneficiaries Against Loss Due to Market Risk
This is the second in a series of articles that I am writing on variable annuities. Readers are urged to read the first installment before tackling the one that follows. My initial article about variable annuities stressed: Financial advisers have strong incentives to sell variable annuities as they pay more in commissions than most other…
Read MoreVariable Annuities Offer Tax Advantages as a Retirement Investment Vehicle
Financial advisers have several good reasons for selling variable annuities to their clients. They get paid more for one thing. On most other investments, the higher the amount a client invests the lower commission rate is for the adviser. In mutual funds, this is called a “break point.” An advisor, to illustrate, may get paid…
Read MoreInflation Persists as a Concern for Folks in Retirement on a Fixed Income.
I worked in the financial services industry for over 40 years, the last fifteen of which as a Financial Advisor for Merrill Lynch in Winston-Salem, NC. My novel, Deadly Portfolio, builds a story around Matthew Wirth, a retiring financial advisor who, in preparing for his own retirement, is turning his practice over to junior partner,…
Read MoreThe Best Time to Buy or Sell in the Stock Market.
As a retired financial advisor, the question that I am asked most often is, “Is it safe now to get into the stock market?” I answer, “No. It’s never safe to get into the market.” When the market is falling, I hear, “Do you think I should get out?” Again, “No.” Investing isn’t like swimming…
Read MoreVariable Annuities — Great, But Be Careful
If you have researched variable annuities on your own, you know that I couldn’t cover everything in one blog on the subject. Variable annuities have their drawbacks. It is important to be aware of them. A variable annuity is a long-term investment, one that you will want to hold your entire lifetime. It’s the place…
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