Steve's Investing Insights
Think Smart Podcast – Advisor Series with Financial Advisor Steve Lowrie
Recently, I sat down with Rob McClelland to join an episode of the Think Smart with TMFG podcast. Rob is with McClelland Financial Group of Assante Capital Management.
We had a great conversation and I had the opportunity to describe my core business values and strategies on investing including… click through to find out.
What Is the Cost of a Financial Advisor?
If organizing your financial interests has become an endless game of whack-a-mole, the cost of a financial advisor might be worth it to help you tame the tangle.
Remember that it’s better to focus on the value that the cost of a financial advisor brings you. “Free Advice” can cost you. Fee-based advice allows you to become the boss of your financial interests. Also, the cost of an independent financial advisor should cover far more than merely helping you buy or sell this or that security in your investment portfolio. Determine what the long-term value of financial advice is worth to you.
Check out these insights that you can use to assess the value of independent financial advice vs. just looking at the cost of a financial advisor.
This Is Your Investment Brain on Pessimism
Have you been reading the headlines, viewing your investment portfolio, and assuming the worst is yet to come? Welcome to your painful crash course on what market risk really looks like—and more importantly, how it feels.
Most investors say they’re ok living with periodic market risk, as long as it helps them achieve better returns over the long run. We accept (in theory) that tolerating the interim damage done to our own investment portfolios will help us meet our long-term financial goals.
But that’s investment risk in theory. Since it’s been a long time since we’ve encountered an extended bear market climate, you may have forgotten or never known the reality of it. It may not have clicked then, when significant market declines happen, it is usually due to despairingly bad news … amplified by headlines screaming how things are only going to get worse from here.
The reality is, when we’re in the middle of a storm of stuff, our behavioural biases make it very difficult to believe we’ll ever see better days.
Opportunity Cost Impact of Your Daily Financial Decisions on Your Retirement Plans
As my husband and I approached our late 40s/early 50s, we decided it was time to solidify our previous hastily sketched plans for early retirement. We had worked hard for many years and skimped in places and were confident that we had done everything right to retire early and live our best early retirement lives. However, when we sat down with the numbers, we realized our dreams of an early retirement with travel and adventure were farther from reach than we thought. We both had well paying careers and didn’t feel that we had splurged so much that we should be this far behind. What happened?
And, more importantly… How do we get back on track?
Once panic-mode subsided, we sat down with some spreadsheets to see what had gone awry and figure out how (and if?) we could still retire early and be able to comfortably afford the things we wanted from retirement.
Here’s what we did to right the (sinking?) ship…
Mid-Year Observations – 2022: The Impact of World Events on Investments
There is no denying that this year – 2022 – has been a roller coaster for investors. With the geopolitical climate impacting markets, interest rates rising, unexpected high inflation and a possible recession looming… there is a lot to navigate.
It’s mid-2022 and a perfect time to revisit what’s happened so far and how best to cope with the intimidating financial markets.
Let’s start with the big action items that have impacted the markets in 2022…
Time to Go on a Financial Media Diet
Stock and bond markets plummeting in tandem, the war in the Ukraine, rises in interest rates, threats of a looming recession … You’re probably already well aware of the volume of news wearing us down. As I wrote to my clients, “the financial press has gone on a feeding frenzy in response, serving up heaping helpings of negativity upon negativity.” On many fronts, times are indeed disheartening, and we’re as worn out as you are by the weight of the world. That said, there are already way too many outlets cramming worst-case scenarios down our throats and crushing investment resolve. To offset a bitter pill overdose, following are a few more nutritious news sources to reinforce why we remain confident that capital markets will continue to prevail over time, and that long-term investors should just stick to their plan.
