This week, we’re talking about socially responsible investing, as well as it’s related cousin, ESG investing. Socially responsible and ESG investing mean a lot of different things to different people, but at its core, socially responsible investing is about determining your most important values, deciding if those values should dictate your investment decisions, and if so, how you can invest your money in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

A better way to describe this concept then, is values-based investing.

Today, I want to cover some of the more common screens that you may want to consider using if you’re going to invest your portfolio in a way that’s consistent with your values. Also, I want to reiterate that it’s not necessary that you implement socially responsible investing in your own portfolio, as the vast majority of investors choose not to go this route.

With that in mind, here are the top socially responsible investing screens: 

• The environment and carbon footprint
• Human rights issues like fair wages, working conditions, abortion, & child labor
• Weapons and war 
• Tobacco & Alcohol
• “Sin” industries like gambling and pornography
• Corporate governance and executive pay

It’s best to just stick to the top 1-2 categories that you care about the most, and not worry about the rest, since every screen you use narrows the investment options. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Tomorrow I’m going to share with you where you can find socially responsible investment options. 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, SRI investing, socially responsible investing, ESG investing, ESG, SRI, SRI stocks, sustainable investing funds, sri vs esg, what are socially responsible funds

This week, we’re talking about socially responsible investing, as well as it’s related cousin, ESG investing. Socially responsible and ESG investing mean a lot of different things to different people, but at its core, socially responsible investing is about determining your most important values, deciding if those values should dictate your investment decisions, and if so, how you can invest your money in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

A better way to describe this concept then, is values-based investing.

Today, I want to explain what it means to invest your money and why that matters when determining if a values-based approach is worth considering. 

It doesn’t matter if you own individual stocks or companies, mutual funds, or index funds, when you invest in the stock market, you own tiny little slices of those companies you invest in. If you invest in mutual funds and index funds, you likely own thousands of different companies. When these companies are profitable and successful, you get paid as an owner through dividends and an increase in the value of your stock price which represents your ownership stake in the company. 

Now, in all likelihood, your largest holding probably represents no more than a teeny tiny fraction of a percent of ownership in that business, but you are directly benefiting and participating in the profits of every business you invest in. If those profits were derived from business practices that are abhorrent to you, you may not be so keen to reap the rewards as an owner. 

So if there are particular industries or types of businesses that you would boycott, consider restricting those same companies in your investment portfolio. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Tomorrow, I’m going to share with you some common SRI and ESG screens so you can think about what areas, if any, you want to restrict or more thoughtfully support. 

Before you continue on with your day, please take a moment to leave a review for the One Minute Retirement Tip in Amazon. If you’re getting any value from these tips, it’s a great way to share the love. And thank you to those of you who have already taken the time to write a review.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

---------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, SRI investing, socially responsible investing, ESG investing, ESG, SRI, SRI stocks, sustainable investing funds, sri vs esg, what are socially responsible funds

This week, we’re talking about socially responsible investing, as well as it’s related cousin, ESG investing. Socially responsible and ESG investing mean a lot of different things to different people, but at its core, socially responsible investing is about determining your most important values, deciding if those values should dictate your investment decisions, and if so, how you can invest your money in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

A better way to describe this concept then, is values-based investing.

Today, I’m sharing with you the most important question you’ll want to ask yourself when deciding if a values-based approach is right for you. It’s a question that I ask every single client before they become a client and before I make portfolio recommendations. 

Here’s the question: Is there any area where you would not invest your money? Think about it: Is there any area where you would not invest your money? Or to put it another way, are there any restrictions you would like to put on your investment portfolio?

Often, when we discover what we want to avoid, we also discover areas we want to support. For example, I have a client who is big on environmental issues. Through the process of talking through this question, we settled on a portfolio strategy that not only avoids the companies he wants to exclude, but actively invests in the types of companies that are leaders in the environmental space. 

By the way, 9 out of 10 clients don’t want to place restrictions on their investment portfolio, so don’t feel obligated to place a restriction on your portfolio. In fact, if you don’t have restrictions, the entire universe of investment options remains open, making it easier to select the best strategy. 

That’s it for today!  Thanks for listening. 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, SRI investing, socially responsible investing, ESG investing, ESG, SRI, SRI stocks, sustainable investing funds, sri vs esg, what are socially responsible funds

This week, we’re talking about socially responsible investing, as well as it’s related cousin, ESG investing. Socially responsible and ESG investing mean a lot of different things to different people, but at it’s core, socially responsible investing is about determining your most important values, deciding if those values should dictate your investment decisions, and if so, how you can invest your money in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

A better way to describe this concept then, is values-based investing.

Today, we need to start with understanding your values as it relates to investing.  You might value your family, a good bottle of wine, and the opportunity to go hunting now and again. But what about your values that impact your investment decisions? 

A good place to start, I think, is looking at the types of organizations where you already give money to or volunteer your time. Do you volunteer at the annual beach cleanup and give money to the American Cancer Society in honor of a loved one who died of lung cancer? In that case, you’ll likely want to invest in companies that have sound environmental practices and avoid tobacco companies.

You can put all kinds of screens on your investment portfolio to weed out the types of companies you don’t want, while actively investing your money in the types of companies that you do want. The list is long. Everything from the environment and tobacco, to abortion and human trafficking and child labor. 

The key though is to first discover and articulate your most important values. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, I’ll share with you the most important question I ask my clients to determine if a values-based approach to investing is the right path. 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, SRI investing, socially responsible investing, ESG investing, ESG, SRI, SRI stocks, sustainable investing funds, sri vs esg, what are socially responsible funds

This week, we’re talking about socially responsible investing, as well as it’s related cousin, ESG investing. Socially responsible and ESG investing mean a lot of different things to different people, but at it’s core, socially responsible investing is about determining your most important values, deciding if those values should dictate your investment decisions, and if so, how you can invest your money in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

A better way to descibe this concept then, is values-based investing. 

So this week, I’ll clear up some of the confusion around socially responsible and ESG investing, to help you determine if socially responsible considerations should be a part of your investment decisions; and I’ll give you the most important question you should ask yourself when deciding whether or not you should consider a values-based investing approach. 

Hopefully after listening to the tips this week, you’ll be fully equipped to decide if you should pursue a values-based approach to investing in your own investment strategy. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! 

Before you go, please take a minute to leave a review for the One Minute Retirement Tip in Amazon or iTunes. If you find these tips valuable, or if you have feedback for me or topic suggestions, it’s a great way to share the love and share your ideas with me! And thanks to all of you who have taken the time to leave a review. 

My name is Ashley Micciche...and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, SRI investing, socially responsible investing, ESG investing, ESG, SRI, SRI stocks, sustainable investing funds, sri vs esg, what are socially responsible funds

It’s Sunday, which means...It’s recap time! 

The theme for this week was: cash savings in retirement. Deciding how much cash you should have on hand at all times in retirement is more important in you might think. Having enough cash on hand will help prevent you from liquidating your investments for emergencies and will help stabilize your portfolio during the inevitable stock market downturns, since you’ll be able to curtail your portfolio withdrawals if and when that happens if you have enough cash on hand. 

Here’s what we covered this week: 

• The Importance of Cash in Retirement 
• Why Cash Can Be Your Best Friend in the Next Recession
• Why $54,000 of Cash on Hand Isn’t Necessarily Too Much
• Where to Park Your Cash So it Actually Earns Interest 
• And..How To Plan For Big Purchases

If you missed any of these episodes, you can find them on iTunes or Google Play by searching for the “One Minute Retirement Tip with Ashley”. 

Tomorrow, come on back, because we’re starting a brand new theme: Socially responsible investing. I’ll share with you how you can put your money where your mouth is to invest in a way that is consistent with your most important values. 

That’s it for this week! Thanks for listening. 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the “One Minute Retirement Tip”.

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, how to withdraw money from retirement account, cash in retirement, money market, taking money out of 401k to pay debt, money market account definition, savings account, best high interest savings account, money market risk, CDs, certificate of deposit, cash for emergencies, emergency fund, where to put emergency fund, emergency savings fund, emergency fund examples

This week, we’re talking about cash savings in retirement. Deciding how much cash you should have on hand at all times in retirement is more important in you might think. Having enough cash on hand will help prevent you from liquidating your investments for emergencies and will help stabilize your portfolio during the inevitable stock market downturns, since you’ll be able to curtail your portfolio withdrawals if and when that happens if you have enough cash on hand. 

In addition to setting aside plenty of cash for emergencies and the next recession, how should you handle those upcoming major purchases? 

Let’s assume you’re already retired, and you want to remodel your kitchen next year, your car only has 2-3 years worth of life left in her, and your daughter seems to be getting pretty serious about this guy she’s dating. You promised her $20,000 for her wedding and it looks like she’ll be cashing that check soon as well. 

How do you handle these bigger planned purchases. 

The answer here isn’t so black and white. If you know you’re going to need the money soon - like within the next year or 2, it’s not a bad idea to set that aside in cash now. 

You could also set aside enough each month in a separate savings account earmarked for that purchase, so that by the time you need a new car or your daughter gets married, you’ve saved enough, but done so gradually over time. 

If it’s been a good year for your retirement portfolio and you have some big gains like you’ve hopefully had this year, then you could also just pull the money from your investment portfolio when you need it. The problem with this strategy though, is that if your portfolio drops 10% this year, you wouldn’t want to make the problem worse by pulling out additional money. 

So it’s best to set aside at least some cash for major planned purchases. But the amount and timing of setting aside that cash is based on how much you need, how soon you need it, and how your investment portfolio is doing. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, we’re going to recap the week and I’m going to give you a little preview of next week’s theme. 

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, how to withdraw money from retirement account, cash in retirement, money market, taking money out of 401k to pay debt, money market account definition, savings account, best high interest savings account, money market risk, CDs, certificate of deposit, cash for emergencies, emergency fund, where to put emergency fund, emergency savings fund, emergency fund examples

This week, we’re talking about cash savings in retirement. Deciding how much cash you should have on hand at all times in retirement is more important in you might think. Having enough cash on hand will help prevent you from liquidating your investments for emergencies and will help stabilize your portfolio during the inevitable stock market downturns, since you’ll be able to curtail your portfolio withdrawals if and when that happens when you have enough cash. 

So far this week, we’ve covered why you need cash for emergencies and stock market downturns. Yesterday, I gave you some guidelines about how much cash to keep on hand, so today, let’s talk about where to park all that cash so it can earn some interest. 

Of course, for maximum safety and FDIC coverage, you can just park it in savings at your bank. This will yield you the lowest amount of interest on your money, since bank deposits are still paying laughable amounts of interest. 

Another option is a money market account, which doesn’t have the FDIC insurance coverage of the bank account, but is still very safe, since it only invests in ultra-short term cash like investments. Currently, money market accounts pay in the 2-2.3% range, which is pretty good. Money markets are my preferred place to park cash for clients.

Lastly, CDs are another great place for your cash. It does require that you tie your money up, but you do have the FDIC insurance, and the penalties for selling early in an emergency are typically worth it for the higher rate of interest that you can often earn. 

Talk to your financial advisor about CDs and money markets. Often they have access to CDs from banks all across the country and plenty of money market options to choose from, so you can let them shop around for the best rate for you. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening!

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip.

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, how to withdraw money from retirement account, cash in retirement, money market, taking money out of 401k to pay debt, money market account definition, savings account, best high interest savings account, money market risk, CDs, certificate of deposit, cash for emergencies, emergency fund, where to put emergency fund, emergency savings fund, emergency fund examples

This week, we’re talking about cash savings in retirement. Deciding how much cash you should have on hand at all times in retirement is more important in you might think. Having enough cash on hand will help prevent you from liquidating your investments for emergencies and will help stabilize your portfolio during the inevitable stock market downturns, since you’ll be able to curtail your portfolio withdrawals if and when that happens when you have enough cash. 

I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to convince you of the importance of holding on to more cash, and today, we’re getting to the heart of the issue - how much cash should you actually keep on hand in retirement. 

At a bare minimum, you’ll want about 6 months worth of monthly expenses on hand for emergencies. So if you spend $5,000/month, you’ll want $30,000 in cash, just for emergencies. 

In addition, to protect yourself in the next market downturn, it would be wise to keep another 12 months of portfolio withdrawals on hand. So if you take out $2,000 from your investment portfolio every month, you would want to keep a year’s worth of withdrawals in cash, which is $24,000. 

So we have 6 months of living expenses and 12 months of portfolio withdrawals, for a grand total of $54,000 in cash in this scenario. It seems like a lot, doesn’t it. But in my opinion, the 6 months of expenses and the 12 months of portfolio withdrawals are the minimum.

You could increase that amount, but I wouldn’t go too crazy, since the more cash you have on hand, the more it will dampen the long-term growth prospects on your money, since cash pays so little. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Tomorrow, I’m going to share with you where you can park that cash to earn more than a few pennies of interest every year. 

Before you continue on with your day, please take a moment to leave a review for the One Minute Retirement Tip in Amazon. If you’re getting any value from these tips, it’s a great way to share the love. And thank you to those of you who have already taken the time to write a review.

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

---------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, how to withdraw money from retirement account, cash in retirement, money market, taking money out of 401k to pay debt, money market account definition, savings account, best high interest savings account, money market risk, CDs, certificate of deposit, cash for emergencies, emergency fund, where to put emergency fund, emergency savings fund, emergency fund examples

This week, we’re talking about cash savings in retirement. Deciding how much cash you should have on hand at all times in retirement is more important in you might think. Having enough cash on hand will help prevent you from liquidating your investments for emergencies and will help stabilize your portfolio during the inevitable stock market downturns. 

Yesterday, I talked about why it’s so important to keep extra cash on hand in retirement, since it will prevent you from dipping into your retirement assets or taking on new debt in an emergency. In retirement, most of you won’t be able to just cut your spending or make more money to pay off a new debt in retirement, so it’s even more important to leave ample cash in retirement for emergencies.

Today, I’m talking about the other main reason to keep lots of cash around in retirement - to prevent you from taking money out of your retirement portfolio in the next recession and market downturn. 

Picture this - you’re retired and relying on your investment portfolio for income. Bu then the next recession hits and the stock market drops 30%. Your portfolio drops 15% if you’re lucky. If you had $1,000,000, you no longer have $1 million, you now have $850,000. Then, you take out another $50,000 that year for income and you’re left with $800,000. Do you see how taking money out of your retirement portfolio when it’s simultaneously dropping in value is such a problem? You just exacerbated the bad returns and now it will take even longer for your portfolio to recover. 

But if you maintain enough cash to stop your portfolio withdrawals in the next downturn, it would help prevent you from making matters worse for yourself, and in the end, give you a better chance of not running out of money in retirement. 

That’s it for today!  Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, I’m going to get specific on how much cash you should actually keep on hand in retirement for emergencies and insulating yourself in the next recession.  

My name is Ashley Micciche and this is the One Minute Retirement Tip. 

----------

>>> Subscribe on iTunes: https://apple.co/2DI2LSP

>>> Subscribe on Amazon Alexa: https://amzn.to/2xRKrCs

>>> Check out our blog: https://truenorthretirementadvisors.com/blog/

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, fee only financial advisor, financial planner, how to withdraw money from retirement account, cash in retirement, money market, taking money out of 401k to pay debt, money market account definition, savings account, best high interest savings account, money market risk, CDs, certificate of deposit, cash for emergencies, emergency fund, where to put emergency fund, emergency savings fund, emergency fund examples