The timing of your retirement decision is HUGE! Deciding when you’ll retire sets in motion a number of other decisions, like when you’ll take social security and how you’ll start drawing income from your investment portfolio.

So this week, I’m talking about your 2019 retirement checklist - the 5 must-do things you need to do if you’re retiring in 2019.

You’ll want to make sure you get everything buttoned up in the last few months before you transition into retirement, so you can be confident in your decision that now is the right time.

I have several clients who make the transition into retirement each year, and there are always the same discussions that come up over and over again. I’ll to share with you some of the advice I’ve shared with clients over the last 11 years, to help you make a smart decision for your 2019 retirement.

And if you’re not retiring this year, don’t worry. This advice applies whether you retire this year, next year, or in 5 years.

Tomorrow is a very special episode - it’s the 100th episode of the 1 minute retirement tip! We’ll kick off the 1st of the 5 things to do if you’re retiring in 2019, but before you go, please leave a review in Amazon or iTunes. Your review helps others find these tips, so whether you’re finding value in these tips or you think I’ve lost my mind, please leave a review.

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, when to retire, retirement income, what age is the best time to retire, guide to retirement, 2019 guide to retirement, age to retire, how to plan for retirement, retirement checklist, how to decide when to retire

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

This week’s theme was Immutable Principles of Investing. These are the most important, unchanging, timeless principles of investing that will help you reach and maintain a financially secure retirement.

Immutable by definition means “unable to be changed”. Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles, yet it’s easy to get caught up in the ever-changing winds of the day.

If you didn’t catch all of the episodes this week, here’s what we covered:

• The role of asset allocation as the foundation of every well-built portfolio
• Why you should never overpay for an investment and why you sometimes need to run in the opposite direction of everyone else
• Why rebalancing should be done manually and not automatically
• And, how to properly diversify your investment portfolio

It’s certainly not a comprehensive list, but in my opinion, they’re the most important principles that will determine your long-term success as an investor. And it’s much harder to blow up your portfolio if you stick with these immutable principles in good and bad markets.

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

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

I can’t wait to hang out with you again tomorrow morning, where we’re going to start a brand new theme: The 5 things you need to do if you’re planning to retire in 2019. And if you don’t plan to retire this year, all the better! You can still start on these 5 things now to set yourself up for a confident transition into retirement.

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, 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, diversification, stock diversification, diversified, diversified portfolio, asset allocation, asset allocation by age, asset allocation formula, asset allocation model, why is asset allocation important, why asset allocation matters,  rebalancing investments, rebalance portfolio, rebalance asset allocation, why is rebalancing important, buy low sell high, overvalued stock, risk tolerance, financial goals, income in retirement, retirement income

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:

Diversify your stock portfolio by geography, industry, and company size to reduce your risk.

The goal with diversification is to have enough variety that all of your investments don’t move up and down together in tandem. Even the best investors in the world make mistakes, so it’s important that you spread the risk of loss around among different types of investments.

Diversification can be made over-complicated by others in my profession, so I want to give you a more simplified way to achieve diversification in your portfolio.

First of all, let me just say that you don’t need a bunch of fancy asset classes in your portfolio to be successful. You don’t need to invest in gold, other precious metals, real-estate investment trusts, and the new-fangled investment du jour (ahem, bitcoin) to be diversified.

In fact, several successful investors are known for abandoning traditional views of diversification all-together. Warren Buffett, chief among them, who prefers to go big or go home and has been successful, largely because of the home runs of very few investments.

But since most of you listening are not professional investors, you’re going to have to settle for a little more diversification than Mr. Buffett.

So when it comes to your stock portfolio, share with you my 3 principles for diversification:

#1: Don’t have all of your eggs in the U.S. basket. I see many investors who have virtually no holdings outside of U.S. focused stocks. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity outside of the U.S. for investors, so make sure at least a portion (but no more than 20-30% of your portfolio) is invested overseas.

#2: Diversify across several industries. If I see a bias towards any one particular industry right now, it’s tech. But if you are too concentrated in 1 or 2 industries, you can get burned. Tech has been burned before in the dot-com bust, and it will surely get burned again. Financial stocks in the 2008 great recession, and oil stocks over the last few years have been burned as well.

#3: Make sure you own investments that differ in company size. Your portfolio shouldn’t contain just the largest companies, but should also contain mid-size and small companies as well, which have shown historically to behave differently than their large-company counterparts.

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.

----------

>>> 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, 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, diversification, stock diversification, diversified, diversified portfolio

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:

Rebalance your portfolio if it drifts more than 5% away from your ideal asset allocation

Tuesday and Wednesday were devoted to getting your asset allocation right. And today, I want to talk about a related topic, which is rebalancing.

One of the most important decisions you or your advisor can make when it comes to your portfolio is: When you should rebalance your portfolio.

Some investment experts recommend every quarter, or once a year. In my experience, I’ve found that the best method is not based on a set, automatic schedule, but based on

1) how far your current portfolio has deviated from your ideal asset allocation, and

2) your age.

Some people might go 10 years without ever once rebalancing their portfolio. This is dangerous because you might have individual positions, 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 haven’t rebalanced, chances are your portfolio is now 60 or 65% in stocks, and you’re taking on more risk than you should.

So keep an eye on each of your investment holdings, and especially on your overall portfolio asset allocation. If your overall allocation drifts more than 5% outside of your ideal mix, then you’ll want to rebalance.

It’s what we call the 5% rule and it works remarkably well for maintaining a targeted asset allocation and for helping you to buy low and sell high.

That’s it for today. Thanks for listening.

Tomorrow we’re going to talk about the importance of diversification.

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, 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, asset allocation, asset allocation by age, asset allocation formula, asset allocation model, why is asset allocation important, why asset allocation matters,  rebalancing investments, rebalance portfolio, rebalance asset allocation, why is rebalancing important

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 don’t overpay.

One of my favorite, timeless books on investing is The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor, by Howard Marks.

If you’re interested in becoming a better investor, it’s a must-read. I’ll link to the book in the show notes for this episode, which you can find it over on iTunes by searching for the One Minute Retirement Tip, Episode #95 - Don’t Overpay.

>>> Buy the book on Amazon

In his book, Howard Marks points out: “No asset is so good that it can’t become a bad investment if bought at too high a price.” In other words, don’t overpay.

He goes on to say:

• In the short run, investing is more like a popularity contest.
• The most dangerous time to buy an investment is at the peak of its popularity. At that time, all the positive data and assumptions are reflected in the price. Everyone that is going to buy has already bought.
• The optimal time to buy an investment is when no one else wants it. At that point, all the negative data and assumptions are reflected in the price. Everyone that is going to sell has already sold.
• Buying at a price below the real worth of an investment is the most reliable approach to make an investment profit.

This principle is applicable to individual stocks, but also to other investments, like mutual funds, ETFs, and especially, the stock market as a whole.

 The time to add to stocks is when no one wants to own stocks. That’s the exact opposite of what most investors do. They get in and out of the stock market at precisely the wrong times, and it has a devastating impact on their long-term returns and their ability to reach their goals in retirement. So have the courage to run in the opposite direction of everyone else, and always remember: Don’t overpay.

That’s it for today. Before you go, please leave a review and comment in Alexa or iTunes. Your feedback means a lot to me. And if there’s a retirement topic you want me to cover, let me know in your comments as well.

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, 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, buy low sell high, overvalued stock

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 asset allocation.

An asset allocation that is aligned with your age, goals, and risk tolerance is the foundation of every well-built portfolio.

Asset allocation is so important that I’m devoting 2 days worth of this week’s tips to this topic.

In its most simple form, asset allocation is the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio. Getting to the right mix of stocks, bonds, and cash should consider 3 factors:

Your age

Your goals

Your tolerance for risk

Yesterday, I talked about how your age should be the starting point for determining your asset allocation. Today I’m continuing with the other factors that should determine your ideal mix of stocks, bonds, and cash: your goals and your tolerance for risk.

I believe most people should stick with the age-based approach to asset allocation. Most of our clients don’t and shouldn’t deviate too far from the ideal asset allocation for their age.

However, sometimes your goals (which includes your spending habits and big planned purchases) will force an adjustment to asset allocation either higher or lower. Your income needs, especially, should inform your personal asset allocation decision. I have clients who don’t need to draw much income from their portfolio, and they are mostly concerned with growing their assets to provide a legacy for their family and the causes they care about. This client would have a higher allocation, because we are more focused on the goal of growing their assets vs. providing income for them in retirement.

Your personal tolerance for risk should also be considered. If you can’t handle the ups and downs of the stock market and are willing and able to sacrifice the long-term rewards of having a higher allocation to stocks, then you may want to consider a lower asset allocation than your age dictates.

But again, it all starts with your age. Use that as your baseline and refine from there.

At True North, we have guidelines for asset allocation based on age that we use as a starting place for determining the right mix of stocks and bonds for each client. If you want a copy of our age-based asset allocation cheat sheet to help you determine the ideal asset allocation for your age, just email me - [email protected]. That’s [email protected].

That’s it for today! Thanks for listening. Tomorrow we’re going to talk about my 2nd immutable principle of successful investing: Don’t Overpay.

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, 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, asset allocation, asset allocation by age, asset allocation formula, asset allocation model, why is asset allocation important, why asset allocation matters, risk tolerance, financial goals, income in retirement, retirement income

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 asset allocation.

An asset allocation that is aligned with your age, goals, and risk tolerance is the foundation of every well-built portfolio.

Ah, asset allocation. I could devote a month’s worth of tips to this topic alone. Probably more, actually. It’s the principle that we focus on the most with our clients. Asset allocation comes up in nearly every discussion with every client, and we’re zealots when it comes to our adherence to this principle.

In its most simple form, asset allocation is the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash in your portfolio. Getting to the right mix of stocks, bonds, and cash should consider 3 factors:

1. Your age
2. Your goals
3. Your tolerance for risk

The starting point here is age. And this makes sense. I don’t care if you are afraid of your shadow and you have no clue what your goals are. If you’re younger than 45, you should have as much of your portfolio invested in the stock market as you can handle. And for most, that means upwards of 100% in stocks and no less than 80% in stocks.

If you’re 65, planning to retire this year, and you’re going to start taking money out of your investment portfolio, then being 100% in stocks is a really bad idea. You probably can’t afford to see your portfolio drop by 40% in a down market. So most of our clients are invested closer to 50% stocks and 50% bonds and cash by the time they are ready to transition into retirement.

At True North, we have guidelines for asset allocation based on age that we use as a starting place for determining the right mix of stocks and bonds for each client. If you want a copy of our age-based asset allocation cheat sheet, just email me - [email protected]. That’s [email protected].

That’s it for today, thanks for listening!

Tomorrow, we’re going to continue with asset allocation and talk about how your goals and your tolerance for risk may lead you to deviate from using your age to determine your ideal asset allocation.

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, 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, asset allocation, asset allocation by age, asset allocation formula, asset allocation model, why is asset allocation important, why asset allocation matters

This week’s theme is Immutable Principles of Investing. These are the most important, unchanging, timeless principles of investing that will bear fruit in good and bad markets in order to help you reach and maintain a financially secure retirement.

Immutable by definition means “unable to be changed”. Successful investing for the long-term requires discipline and sticking to a set of unchanging principles, yet it’s easy to get caught up in the ever-changing winds of the day.

Just take the last 3 months as an example. As I record these tips, the stock market is down more than 12% over the last 3 months. Signs of a weakening economy dominate the news, and worries of an impending recession and bear market are palpable.

But let’s re-focus on what matters most - the immutable principles of successful investing. Because that’s what will help you stay on course if the current downturn in the stock market gets worse.

Each day this week I’m going to share with what I’ve learned over the last 11 years working with clients. I’ll share practical advice on how you can implement these principles in your own portfolio to reach your goals.

I currently oversee close to $100 million in client assets and I’ve helped my clients grow their wealth and financial security by sticking to these core principles - in good times and bad.

That’s it for today, thanks for listening! I can’t wait to hang out with you again tomorrow where I’m going to share with you the foundation of every investment portfolio.

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, 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

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

This week’s tips were aimed at helping you build millionaire habits. Paying attention to the habits, behaviors, and attitudes of the most successful among us can teach us something about how to reach and maintain a financially secure retirement.

As a financial advisor who works with a lot of millionaires, I have exclusive access to their money habits. I get to see the good and the bad behaviors of clients, and I’ve paired that experience with the conventional advice about the habits that build wealth to bring you these tips this week.

If you didn’t catch all of the episodes this week, here’s what we covered:

• The most common millionaire habit that I see: paying yourself first
• Why base hits are more important than home runs when it comes to investing
• How keeping your emotions in check will prevent you from making big mistakes
• The meticulous decision making skills of the wealthy
• And...Why millionaires don’t ask “how much can I afford”

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

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

I can’t wait to hang out with you again tomorrow morning, where we’re going to start a brand new theme: The 5 things every investor needs to understand about investing. These are the core principles of investing that can help you build, achieve, and maintain wealth to secure your retirement.

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, millionaire habits, what millionaires do, how most millionaires are made, rich habits, building wealth, wealth building ideas, how to build wealth, get rich, positive habits, pay yourself first, 10,000 good decisions, controlling fear and greed, how to make better decisions

This week’s theme is millionaire habits. Paying attention to the habits, behaviors, and attitudes of the most successful among us can teach us something about how to reach and maintain a financially secure retirement.

When you walk into a dealership to buy a car, the conversation about what car you can afford is always framed around how much payment you can afford.

That is the absolute worst way to frame whether or not you should buy something. Lenders will always be willing to lend you the maximum amount, so what you can afford according to the lender  is usually way more than what you can actually afford if you have other goals, like saving for retirement.

When you buy cars and houses, and other big ticket items, successful people realize that deciding on how much to spend is not about what you can afford. It’s about what amount makes the most sense given your financial goals and what’s most important to you.

I have a lot of clients who drive drive cars like 10-year old Honda Accords, and have a paid off mortgage, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The bestselling book, The Millionaire Next Door talks about this concept at length. In fact, if you’re interested in diving deeper into the topic of millionaire habits, it's an inspiring read, and I highly recommend it.

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.

----------

>>> 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, millionaire habits, what millionaires do, how most millionaires are made, rich habits, building wealth, wealth building ideas, how to build wealth, get rich, positive habits, how much car can I afford, how much house can I afford, how much should I spend on a car, how much should I spend on a house, millionaire next door