The theme for this week is the best age to retire. The timing of your retirement is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Period. It’s a decision that has financial, psychological, and health consequences that could impact you for the rest of your life, so the decision about when to retire must be carefully considered.

Today, I’m talking about how many margaritas can you drink in a beach hammock? This is not a joke or a riddle.

I love margaritas in beach hammocks. I was in Mexico in 2013 and I recall drinking many a margarita on the beach, in a hammock. It was fun.

But I was on vacation. If I got drunk on margaritas every day on the beach in Mexico, it would transition from fun to boring to sad to rehab in about 3-4 weeks.

So why is retirement always pitched to us in this way? There’s always a beach, usually a hammock, and often a margarita. That’s a vacation, not a realistic retirement lifestyle.

I think many of us are still caught up in this romantic idea of a lazy retirement on a beach or on a golf course every day, but even die hard golfers I know would get bored after more than 2-3 days per week of golf.

My point here is that when you envision your life after retirement, make sure that vision is realistic. How will you spend your time? How will you maintain a sense of purpose and fulfillment that work no longer provides? How will you replace the social contacts at work?

Studies show that for many Americans, boredom and depression often set in after the initial novelty of retirement wears off. So in order to guard against this surprise, we must have better and more realistic expectations of what retirement looks like. Otherwise, you might end up drinking too many margaritas in a beach hammock...not because it’s fun, but because you’re sad, lonely, and depressed.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening!

Before you go, I have a favor to ask. Would you take a minute to leave an honest review for the One Minute Retirement Tip in Amazon? Amazon uses reviews as social proof that this flash briefing is useful, so it’s the best way for you to spread the word if you’re getting any value from these tips on retirement. Thanks in advance if you leave a review. I do a little happy dance every time I read a new review.

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

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, best age to retire, retirement age, how to decide when to retire, what age do people retire, best age to retire for longevity, what is the best age to stop working

The theme for this week is the best age to retire. The timing of your retirement is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Period. It’s a decision that has financial, psychological, and health consequences that could impact you for the rest of your life, so the decision about when to retire must be carefully considered.

I’ve watched many clients over the last 11 years transition into retirement, and it’s always an exciting time.

A lot of uncertainty lies on the other side of retirement. But when I see clients who are truly ready to retire, I see many similarities in their circumstances and their mindset. So here are my top 3 signs that you might be ready to retire:

#1 - You’re financially prepared for retirement. You’ve run the numbers. Based on your income, the size of your nest egg, and your projected lifestyle in retirement, there is a very low chance that you’ll run out of money. You also have enough cushion to absorb a down stock market, unexpected cuts to social security, or higher inflation. You’ve also figured out how you’re going to pay for healthcare and perhaps long-term care in retirement as well. Without a retirement roadmap and being financially prepared for retirement, none of the other factors really matter that much.

Sign #2 that you might be ready to retire - You aren’t interested any more in keeping up with the technical knowledge base of your profession.  A sure sign that you’re ready to retire is when you are no longer trying to keep up with changes in technology or changes in your field that impact your job. You’ve stopped going to conferences. You no longer read books or trade publications in your field. You’re no longer hungry to learn. If you’ve lost the fire and especially if you’re just burned out and exhausted all the time, it might be a sign that you’re ready for a change. Burnout is an obvious sign, but pay attention to your hunger for continued growth and learning in your profession, as this may be a more subtle message that you’re ready to transition into retirement.

Sign #3 that you might be ready to retire - Your primary areas of fulfillment and satisfaction are outside of work. If you list all the things that are important to you, where does work fall in that hierarchy? When my daughter was born in 2014, my mother-in-law decided to retire. She enjoyed her work, but she was a stay at home mom to her 2 boys and was excited for the opportunity to be involved in her first grandbaby’s life as babysitter numero uno! She has formed a strong bond with my daughter, babysitting her 2-3 days a week for the last 4 years, and my daughter loves her Gaga very much. When you are strongly pulled to other areas of life satisfaction outside of work, that may be a sign that you’re ready for retirement, or in my mother-in-laws case, career #3 as stay at home grandma.

That’s it for today! Thanks for listening.

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

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----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, best age to retire, retirement age, how to decide when to retire, what age do people retire, best age to retire for longevity, what is the best age to stop working

The theme for this week is the best age to retire. The timing of your retirement is one of the most important choices you’ll make. Period. It’s a decision that has financial, psychological, and health consequences that could impact you for the rest of your life, so the decision about when to retire must be carefully considered.

Today I want to lay the foundation for our discussion this week by talking about when most Americans actually retire.

In the United States today, the most common age to retire is age 62. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is the same age when you can begin to collect social security, so many Americans leave the workforce in their early 60s and start collecting social security and stop collecting a paycheck.  

The typical age range for retirement is actually quite narrow - about ⅔ of Americans retire between the ages of 57-66.

While the statistics are helpful in determining a baseline, it’s important to consider your own situation when picking an ideal retirement age. Do you enjoy your work? Are you financially prepared for retirement and can you afford the retirement lifestyle that you envision for you and your spouse? What is the impact on your retirement portfolio and your social security benefits if you work an extra 1-2 years?

While understanding when and why people retire at the age they do is helpful, it’s ultimately your decision, and it’s a decision that should weigh multiple factors - not just whether or not you can afford to retire.

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening!

Tomorrow, come on back, because I’m going to share with you 3 signs that you’re ready to retire.

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

----------

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

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

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, best age to retire, retirement age, how to decide when to retire, what age do people retire, best age to retire for longevity, what is the best age to stop working

The theme for this week is the best age to retire. The timing of your retirement is one of the most important choices you’ll make. Period.. It’s a decision that has financial, psychological, and health consequences that could impact you for the rest of your life, so the decision about when to retire must be carefully considered.

This week, I’m going to share with you what I’ve learned over the last 11 years helping clients make thoughtful decisions about their retirement.

We’ll talk about how to know if you’re ready to retire, reasons why you may want to continue working, how to test drive retirement, and how to think through how you’ll spend your time in retirement.

My hope is that you’ll come away from this week’s tips better informed, and better able to make a decision that will lead you to a fulfilling retirement.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening! Tomorrow we’re going to dive in by talking about when most Americans actually retire.

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

----------

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

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

----------

Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management, best age to retire, retirement age, how to decide when to retire, what age do people retire, best age to retire for longevity, what is the best age to stop working

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

The theme for this week was: Immutable Principles of Successful Investing - Part II

Immutable by definition means “unable to be changed”. Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles.

Hopefully after listening to the tips this week, you are better equipped to be successful in good markets and bad markets and not get caught up in the ever-changing winds of the day.

Here are the immutable principles of successful investing that we covered this week:

• Avoid the Hype
• Be Tax Aware to Maximize Investment Returns
• Make Sure Your Investment Fees Are Reasonable
• Maintain the Right Mix of Stocks and Bonds
• And...Don’t Freak Out!

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: When to retire. I’ll share with you some common mistakes I see people make when choosing the timing of their retirement, and I’ll talk about questions to consider when deciding on the timing of your own retirement.

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

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

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks

This week, we’re talking about the immutable principles of successful investing.  Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles. Today’s immutable, unchanging principle is: don’t freak out!

Managing your emotions - particularly fear and greed - is one of the most important characteristics of a successful investor.

In fact there have been many studies that show that investors are generally pretty terrible at managing their emotions, and as a result, achieve some pretty dismal returns.

Here’s the reality: Yes, we will have another recession. Yes, the stock market will drop. Yes, your portfolio will drop - maybe as much as 20, 30, or even 40%.

You will open your account statement in the mail and want to cry. Or vomit. Or maybe both. Then what will you do? Will you freak out, sell everything, and put it under your mattress?

Then what? How long will you wait before you put your money back in the market, or will you sit on the sidelines for the rest of your life?

If you have a million dollar portfolio and it drops by 30%, that’s a $300,000 drop. How long did it take you to save $300,000? A couple decades most likely, and now it’s been wiped out in the course of maybe 9 months.

So there’s no sugar-coating it. Significant losses in a down market can be devastating. Especially when you’re close to or living in retirement. But in order to be successful long-term, you can’t let your emotions get the best of you. Do whatever it takes not to sell. If you have to stop watching cable tv news or shred all your statements without opening them for the next year, so be it.

The key here and the immutable principle of today is: Don’t freak out.

That’s it for today. 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.

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks, emotional intelligence, emotional investing, investors psychology, behavioral finance, psychology of market cycle

This week, we’re talking about the immutable principles of successful investing.  Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles. Today’s immutable, unchanging principle is: rebalance to maintain the right mix of stocks and bonds.

Some people might go 10 years without ever once rebalancing their portfolio. This is dangerous because you might have individual investments, whether they be stocks or mutual funds, that have ballooned and now represent a larger percentage of your portfolio than they should. Or, more importantly, you might have an overall portfolio allocation that has veered dramatically off course from your ideal mix of stocks and bonds.

If you were 50% in stocks & 50% in bonds 5 years ago, and you haven’t rebalanced, chances are your portfolio is now 65 or 70% in stocks or higher, and you’re taking on more risk than you might realize.

So keep an eye on each of your investment holdings, and especially on your overall portfolio stock and bond allocation.

Some people like to rebalance every quarter or every year. It’s often a time-based interval like that which triggers a rebalancing. I see this often in 401k plans, where you can set up your portfolio to automatically rebalance once a year. While this is better than no rebalancing, I disagree with the time-based method, because I think it’s more effective to do a trigger-based rebalancing instead.

With our clients, I like to use the 5% rule - if a client’s overall stock and bond allocation drifts more than 5% outside of their ideal mix, then we rebalance. It works well because it provides a systematic, unemotional way to buy low and sell high.

Whatever your rebalancing strategy, remember this immutable principle of investing: rebalance to maintain the right mix of stocks and bonds.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening.

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

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

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks, rebalance portfolio, rebalance 401k, asset allocation, rebalancing, key to investing

This week’s theme is the immutable principles of successful investing.  Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles. Today’s immutable, unchanging principle is: make sure your fees are reasonable.

Fees do matter when it comes to your investment portfolio, but cheaper isn’t always better.

Here’s how I want you to think about fees instead. There is no free lunch when it comes to investing your money. So it’s important to understand what your fees are. How much are you paying in trading costs or commissions? How much are you paying per year in the underlying investment fees of the mutual funds or ETFs you invest your money in? And if you use a financial advisor, how much are you paying him or her?

My point is, while investing isn’t free and cheaper doesn’t automatically equal better, what you pay should be reasonable. That’s the key word: Reasonable.

So what is reasonable? If you’re a DIY investor, your all-in annual costs shouldn’t exceed .75% annually. If you use professional help from a financial advisor, your fees should not exceed 1.5%. In practice, I’ve found that if clients’ all-in fees were less than 1.5% per year, we didn't have issues with underperformance, plus they were able to take advantage of all of the advice and planning that comes with having a trusted advisor, all while saving themselves a lot of time and effort trying to do everything on their own.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening!

Before you go, I have a favor to ask. Would you take a minute to leave an honest review for the One Minute Retirement Tip in Amazon? Amazon uses reviews as social proof that this flash briefing is useful, so it’s the best way for you to spread the word if you’re getting any value from these tips on retirement. Thanks in advance if you leave a review. I do a little happy dance every time I read a new 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,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks, investment fees, cost of investing, mutual fund fees, ETF fees, expense ratio, mutual fund expense ratio

This week, we’re talking about the immutable principles of successful investing.  Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles.  Today’s immutable, unchanging principle is tax awareness.

Investing for your retirement is fraught with of potential tax land mines. Our tax system is complex and there are a lot of rules and exceptions to those rules, especially when it comes to taxes on your investment portfolio.

At some point, I’m going to devote an entire week or more to this topic because it’s critically important, but for today, what I want to convey is how important an awareness of taxes is for your long-term returns.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand the tax treatment of different account types. IRAs, Trust accounts, and Roth IRAs all have vastly different tax treatments - both on money going in to the account, how money is taxed while it stays invested in the account, and how the money is taxed on the way out.

So by understanding how each of these accounts are taxed, you can then make better decisions about the types of investments you own in each to maximize the tax efficiency with the different types of accounts that you have.

Not sure if your portfolio is as tax efficient as it could be? I have a special treat for you. If you send me a copy of your account statement - either for a single account or your entire portfolio - I’ll do a tax awareness audit on your portfolio to let you know if there are any glaring tax-inefficiencies in your investment portfolio.

Send an email to [email protected], that [email protected], and I’ll send you a link to upload a copy of your statement to me securely.

That’s it for today! Thanks for listening. Tomorrow, I’m going to share with you my rule of thumb for determining if your investment fees are reasonable.

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

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks, tax aware investing, tax efficient investing, how are investments taxed, taxed on stocks, capital gains taxes, investment tax rate

This week’s theme is the immutable principles of successful investing.  Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles, and today’s immutable, unchanging principle is avoid the hype.

Look no further than bitcoin for a prime example of hype in the investment world. If you weren’t on the bitcoin bandwagon in 2017, you were made to feel like an idiot. Everyone was talking about bitcoin, and it seems everyone was doubling their money overnight. 

You know things have gotten out of hand when you hear people bragging on the sidelines of their kids soccer games about about how they’ve made 400% in bitcoin - that year alone!

Then in 2018, Bitcoin lost 70% of it’s value and a lot of people who speculated on bitcoin and bought in 2017 after the price already soared got burned...badly.

Cryptocurrencies are difficult to understand and crypto as an asset class is still a little teething toddler. So the jury is still out on the long-term legitimacy of this asset class. In addition, cryptocurrency is technology-based, which leaves this investment open to cyberattacks. Hacking is a serious risk, since there is no way to retrieve your lost or stolen bitcoins.

So here’s the point: When it comes to investing, it’s important to avoid the hype. When you feel like you’ve missed the bandwagon on something, just shrug it off. Don’t be tempted to jump in after the price has skyrocketed. Many people get romaced into buying something that they don’t really understand and haven’t done their homework on because they don’t want to be left behind.

But don’t fall for that temptation. As bitcoin and countless other hyped up investments gone bad will show you, once you feel like you missed the boat, you should just wave and let it sail on by.

In other words, avoid the hype.

That’s it for today, Thanks for listening!

Tomorrow, come on back, because I’m going to cover the importance of being tax-aware with your investments.

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

----------

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

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Tags: retirement, investing, money, finance, financial planning, retirement planning, saving money, personal finance, wealth management,  investment principles, how to be a good investor, stock market, stock market investing, disciplined investing, timing investments, stock market downturn, recession, bear market, bull market, how to make money in the stock market, how to make money in stocks, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency prices