At Apprise Wealth Management, we want to help people make better decisions about money. We also read constantly and like sharing some of our favorite commentaries each week.
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Here are this week’s articles as well as a brief description of each:
1. Is Phased Retirement a Good Fit for You? Many of us look forward to giving up work and retiring. However, shifting from a full workload to an open schedule is a drastic change. An approach that leaves time for older employees to pass on their wisdom to younger workers before they leave could make sense for you and your employer. This article offers some guidelines to help you determine if a phased retirement could be right for you.
2. 7 Tips for Annually Rebalancing Your Retirement Accounts. Stock market prices fluctuate daily, making it easy for your portfolio to deviate from its target allocations. While portfolios should be rebalanced on a regular basis, many do-it-yourself investors neglect this exercise. This article provides seven tips for annually rebalancing your accounts, including the following:
· Reestablish target allocations
· Consolidate accounts to simplify rebalancing
· Tolerance band rebalancing
3. Decluttering Your Professional Life. Deciding what to do with our accumulated stuff is a challenge we all face. In our homes, we often take the easy way out by hiding things in our closets, attics, garages, and basements. This is a little harder to do in our offices. A disorderly workspace can impact your mood, concentration, and productivity, making it difficult to focus. If you want to declutter your workspace, the biggest hurdle can simply be getting started. Taking it one step at a time – with a minimal time commitment each day can make the process less stressful. You should probably start with your desktop – after all that is “your prime real estate.”
4. Why Everyone Else Seems to Have More Money Than You. We often compare ourselves to others. Comparing ourselves to someone better off than we are, is an upward social comparison. Unfortunately, it also tends to make us unhappy. On the other hand, if we compare ourselves to someone worse off than we are, we are more likely to be satisfied with our lot in life. Of course, we may also be overestimating what our friend with the fancy car may have given up to buy that car. We also do not know how much debt they incurred to buy it. Dissatisfaction can be a plus if it gives us the energy to act. But it can also be frustrating. One way to avoid going down that path is to make a list of all the things we have that bring us happiness. That will also bring our focus back to our own successes and away from worrying about things others have that we don’t.
5. Chilling Davos: A Bleak Warning on Global Division and Debt. Seth Klarman, a billionaire value investor, runs Baupost Group, which manages about $27 billion. His most recent annual letter to investors expresses his concerns about an incoming social crisis as well as the prevalence of political and social tension in the U.S. In the letter Mr. Klarman shares his biggest concerns about the economy, democracy, and society. For further thoughts on Mr. Klarman’s letter, you can also read this post from Business Insider. As discussed in our recent blog post, after relative calm for most of 2017 and 2018, market volatility has increased. Many of the factors cited in Mr. KIarman’s letter could be driving the heightened uncertainty about the market’s future direction.
We hope you find the above posts valuable. If you would like to talk to us about financial topics including your investments, creating a financial plan, saving for college, or saving for your retirement please complete our contact form, and we will be in touch. We can schedule a call, a virtual meeting via Zoom, or a meeting at Apprise Wealth Management’s office in Northern Baltimore County.
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Phil Weiss founded Apprise Wealth Management. He started his financial services career in 1987 working as a tax professional for Deloitte & Touche. For the past 25+ years, he has worked extensively in the areas of financial planning and investment management. Phil is both a CFA charterholder and a CPA.
Located just north of Baltimore, Apprise works with clients face-to-face locally and can also work virtually regardless of location.
