Investing/Strategy/Frequent-Questions

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Frequent Questions

Should Wall Street help me create my retirement strategy?

Wall Street professionals have specialized expertise that can help you plan your retirement and invest your assets.

Does Wall Street have a conflict of interest?

Wall Street has a major conflict of interest. It generates revenue, executive bonuses, and advisor income from your assets.

What is my biggest risk if I rely on Wall Street for advice and services?

Your retirement planner or financial advisor is really a salesman. Sales reps can use any title that helps them sell investment products. And, they do not have mandatory disclosure requirements. It is your responsibility to ask the right questions and know good answers (benefit you) from bad ones (damage you)

Should I have a retirement plan?

Yes, it is your roadmap for your financial future. You have to know where you going and when you arrive at your destination. Plus, there are plenty of speed bumps and roadblocks that have to be overcome.

How does investment strategy change over time?

You tolerance for risk goes down because you have less time to recover from bad markets and bad financial advice.

What is my biggest challenge when I plan for retirement?

You do not know when you and your spouse are going to die. Your longevity impacts how much money you are going to need and your tolerance for investment risk.

Why is time such a big factor?

There are two primary reasons. You need time to accumulate assets for retirement. Your risk tolerance is impacted by the amount of time you have to recover losses. 

When should Gen-Y’s start saving for retirement?

No later than age 30 even if it is only a small percentage of your salary.

Am I guaranteed a higher return if I take more risk?

There are no guarantees, but stocks always outperform bonds and bonds always outperform money market funds over longer time periods. If this was not true no one would buy higher risk stocks and bonds. The risk is this relationship between the primary asset classes is not true every year. There will be years when you are better off in a money market fund. The challenge is predicting those years.

What if I do not have enough assets to retire?

The two most frequent solutions are deferred retirement dates and part-time jobs during early retirement years.

Can I invest in CDs and short-term bonds during retirement?

This strategy works if you know with complete certainty that you cannot run out of money in your lifetime. This strategy does not work during early retirement years.

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