Month: June 2020

Episode 13: Let’s Talk About the Stock Market

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In this episode of The Peak Financial Freedom Show, Jim and Dan take time to focus on the nuances of investing in the stock market. They discuss topics like how much of your money should be invested in the stock markets, how you can better control your investments in the markets, and why they would never tell their clients to “ride out the stock market.” They also explain the processes that they put in place to mitigate the risk in your portfolio so that you never have to feel unsafe financially as you save and invest for your future.

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Do You Have a Beautiful Pie Chart Porfolio?

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When you see your statements, your portfolio is graphed into a really nice looking pie chart – it’s beautiful. Your advisor said you have so many funds because you’re diversified, in order to minimize risk. You may have been led to believe that mutual funds are way safer than stocks. You have been told your beautiful pie chart will protect your assets from volatility and losses AND you’ll earn a great rate of return. And to top it off, you may have been told you are only paying a total of 1 percent in fees.

But, what if what you’ve been told about your beautiful pie chart portfolio isn’t true? How can you tell if it’s not the truth? It’s simple. If you lost 10, 15, or 20 percent in the last quarter of 2018, you probably have a lot more risk than you want. Your beautiful pie chart may not look so beautiful now, does it?

If you want to learn how to turn your beautiful pie chart into a portfolio designed to reduce your risk during large stock market losses, contact us today.

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Episode 12: Your Advisor Is Not Your Friend

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When it comes to building a portfolio and a retirement plan that works best for you, it’s crucial to have an advisor who is both professional and competent. While it’s important to have a good relationship with your advisor, there’s a distinct difference that Jim and Dan highlight in this episode, you want your advisor to be friendly, but you don’t want them to be your friend. Your money is yours, and you want to manage it in a way that makes it work for you and for your family, not in a way that works for your advisor.

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Five Tips to Help Protect Your Retirement Savings in an Economic Downturn

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You Have More Power Than You Realize to Keep Your Finances on Track

The COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic turmoil have caused many people to reexamine their finances. Even if you have taken control of your financial future by being diligent about saving for retirement, it’s normal to feel out of control when facing an uncertain economy and the prospect of a recession that may last for some time.

So, how can you shield your retirement portfolio in troubling times? Luckily, you have more power than you realize when it comes to recession-proofing your nest egg. These five tips will help you stay on track even in an economic downturn.

Tip #1: Bulk Up Your Savings

The typical rule of thumb is to maintain an emergency fund with three to six months of living expenses, but an economic downturn could last longer than that. Aim to up your cash reserves to one year’s worth of expenses and utilize a high-yield savings account to maximize your efforts. Doing so can give you greater peace of mind when unpredictable financial events happen.

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Ride Out The Stock Market? Maybe Not As Losses Are Harder To Make Up Than You’ve Been Told.

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You have been told to ride out the stock market, to stay invested, and losses will be easy to recover from. But, how much did you lose in 2000-2002 and 2007-2009 when the stock market crashed? Many people lost 50 percent.

Mathematically if you lose 50 percent you need to make a 100 percent recovery just to break even. That means if your one million dollar I-R-A loses 50 percent a 50 percent gain brings you back to only 750,000 dollars, far short of full recovery.

Your 500,000 dollar I-R-A value, after a 50 percent loss, would need a 100 percent gain to recover. That could take a long time if it happens at all.

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Episode 11: Tackling the Single Greatest Retirement Fear

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When it comes to retirement funds, the greatest worry is whether or not you’ll outlive your savings. Too often, people spend their whole lives working and saving for retirement, only to reach retirement and end up spending none of their money out of fear of running out. However, retirement should be about relaxing and enjoying life, not about stressing and fear.

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Episode 10: Are You in Control of Your Retirement?

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When it comes to planning for retirement, there’s a lot of information and options available to you that it may get a little overwhelming. However, for a successful retirement, it’s important that you’re in front of, and in control of, your retirement rather than the other way around. For example, did you know that you can move your 401K funds into an IRA, tax-free if you’re 59.5 years old or over? Not many people do.

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Episode 9: Financial Planning for the Worry-Prone

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It’s completely understandable to worry about the state of your finances, especially as you get closer and closer to retirement. In this episode’s Case Study, Dan and Jim discuss the best financial plan for chronic worrier, Gary. For them, the best way to combat financial stress and fears is to minimize the risk in your portfolio and then create a lifetime income projection so that you know exactly what to expect for your financial future. This works by simplifying your financial life into one page so that you can see exactly where your income sources will come from for the duration of your retirement; whether from savings, your assets, revenue, the government, or your investments.

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