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Despite a generally lackluster outlook for 2012, there are some areas that offer both short and long term growth opportunities. We are looking at categories of investment, not specific stocks or bonds. We will be happy to provide specific names to those interested.
In our previous article, we painted a cautionary picture for 2012. Continued volatility in stocks, low interest rates, problems in Europe, slowing growth in Emerging Markets. All this being said, this is not the time to stuff your funds in a mattress. There are opportunities to outperform the miserly returns being offered by money market funds, bank accounts and the like.
Typically, tax time, April and the month before, and year end are the times that we see the most outrageous claims for investments. If you have been watching the financial press you have seen a number of articles on high profile investment advisors finding themselves in big trouble for various indiscretions, ranging from outright thievery to insider trading.
Life insurance is a critical part of everyone's financial life. Sadly, it receives little in the way of thought and planning in most situations. A young family, thinking about affordability, will usually buy the least expensive term insurance that they can find. This is not a bad strategy, but the mistake is assuming that, when the term insurance guaranteed premium expires, there will be no further need for life insurance. So we see someone who has reached age 50-60, facing a choice between a term policy that is no longer affordable, and a permanent policy with a premium that is too steep.
Surely everyone has seen and been amazed by the tremendous swings in stock market indices over the past several months. In a single day, markets will be up several hundred points at the open, down by even more in the afternoon, and finish up by over a hundred points. Scary? yes. Confusing.? Yes.
In case you haven't noticed, we are in a period of turmoil, economic uncertainty, and a lack of confidence in our government and regulators. More than likely, the investment markets will remain stagnant, with little movement in either direction. If there is to be a strong movement, it most likely will be negative. Interest rates will remain low, so savers will get precious little from banks, and retirees will struggle with low interest rates on their retirement nest eggs. Not a rosy picture.
A major financial publication recently ran an article about a 67 year old who had retired and purchased a variable annuity to fund his retirement income. He was feeling very comfortable, despite recent market declines and volatility, because he had a Guaranteed Income Benefit as a part of the annuity he purchased.
The primary concern of Baby Boomers is that they will run out of money in retirement. Many traditional financial advisors recommend a mix of stocks and bonds, usually about 50-60% stocks and 40-50% bonds. This may work, but is absolutely not guaranteed. Stocks rarely have dividend rates above 2-3%, and do not generate capital gains each and every year. Bonds pay the rate of interest stated, but do not have the ability to keep pace with inflation.
Modern Portfolio theory shows how risk adjusted returns of a porfolio can be improved by diversification across assets with varied correlations. This is a way of saying, while some assets are increasing in value, others are decreasing or remaining stable.
Surprise, something is actually getting less expensive. A huge change has taken place in the life insurance industry and it couldn't have come at a better time.
A client recently called in frustration. She had over $200,000 in a money market account,earning less than 1/2% interest, or about $1000. This represented money that she held for emergencies, or unexpected expenses. We proposed that she could create a ladder of quality deferred annuities and get a number of advantages.
I was pleased and honored to be asked to appear on "Walking on Air" to discuss the difficulties of obtaining health insurance, particularly for people going through divorce. The broadcast presents some pracctical advice for anyone who is seeking coverage for themselves or their family. We hope you will spend a few minutes a listen.
Anyone who is interested or in need of income should pay attention. Any investor who is looking for diversification should pay attention. It isn't often that we see an opportunity to obtain a 7% cash flow with an opportunity for capital gain.
Traditional asset allocation advice was to have about 20% of your investments in the International category. The reasoning was that international investments had potentially high returns, but also carried high risk. That is changing.
Pockets of Opportunity