THINK Retirement NOW. ™

How often should YOU-- or the person you hire to manage your investments—be buying and selling the stocks you own?  Here’s something to Ponder: Every time you sell a stock, there is someone buying it who thinks you’re wrong. In fact, the math is simple:  one of you MUST be wrong and time will tell.  Who buys a stock when you sell it? SOMEONE has to, and to them what you are selling is a bargain.  Are they fools? Actually, most stocks are bought by very large very smart institutions. The price they pay you is the price they believe will make THEM money. Today, we'll take a look at just WHO buys most stocks that individuals sell, and it may surprise you. Then Steve will layout a strategy for avoiding emotional decisions with your money.  An important show for you today,  MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!!

The smart way to build retirement wealth going into 2020 and beyond, is with a smarter financial bucketing plan to segment and sequester your capital into clear and distinct financial buckets, each with its own specific task and time deadline. Each dollar should have a job to do, and be good at doing it.  Traditionally, bonds were the tool of choice for protecting a portfolio from market loss while providing competitive income. That is no longer the case. Bonds today are paying in the range of eight tenths of one percent for ten years. In other words with a half million in the safest bond fund at Vanguard, you will make about four thousand dollars for an entire YEAR.  Steve will tell you about a new solution that you won't want to miss. Then, health insurance and Medicare expert Shelley Grandidge joins us for the Q & A.  This is one show you don't want to miss!   MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!

If all you had on which to judge the state of the economy was the stock market, it would seem like everything is just fine. After falling 37% in about a month from late February to late March, the broad market came back far enough to crawl out of the hole for the year by Monday June 8th.  The breathtaking speed of recovery has many investors convinced that another market crash is inevitable. But is it really? Today on Mastering Money, Steve will be revealing the three keys you need to look for which would determine whether or not we'll see another crash and how to know if you are properly prepared.  If not, don't worry--we'll have some important steps for you to take right now. You don't want to miss today's show, MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!

Today on Mastering Money...It’s a MOTLEY FOOL MONDAY!! The Motley Fool Money Show is one of the most popular stock market TALK SHOWS in America, featuring timely insights from top market experts and heard by millions of listeners coast to coast—including Saturdays right here on Money Radio! After an update of the markets and today's breaking financial news stories, we'll take you to an exclusive broadcast of the Motley Fool Money Show--plus money-making and money-SAVING ideas from Steve you won't want to miss! --it all starts NEXT... MASTERING MONEY IS ON THE AIR!

Researchers at Yale and MIT have completed Nobel Laureate research on potential retirement outcomes for today's retirees. The reason the picture is not pretty for many Baby Boomers, even those with million dollar portfolios, is just what you might expect: bond interest rates are too low to live on and relying on the stock market for income withdrawals simply is not mathematically sustainable. They point out you could need your money MOST when markets are down, causing  accelerated depletion of your savings.  Face it, stocks are not for income--but can anyone seriously consider retiring on a BOND paying less than one or two percent, with inflation headed to three or four percent one day?       Coming up, we'll review a simple three step plan for getting your retirement income locked in so you can retire and STAY retired once and for all!  Then health insurance and medicare expert Shelley Grandidge joins us for her insights...an important show today you don't want to miss...MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!!

Well, by now it’s become apparent the stock market inhabits a different world than the one the rest of us live in. Amid the most severe social unrest in decades and a historic pandemic, the Nasdaq, Dow, and S & P indexes have been moving up quite nicely, after the shock of the shutdown caused a forty percent decline in March.  Why is it happening? How can the market go up when everyone is so bummed out?  Well, everyone is NOT bummed out. The professionals on Wall Street are reading the fundamentals and seeing how ready the Fed is to fix things. Today, we'll compare today's market to the year that Martin Luther King was tragically assassinated, and massive riots ensued. The market's behavior may shock you!   A fact filled show you don't want to miss, MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!!

One of the simplest ways for companies to communicate financial well-being and shareholder value is to say "the dividend check is in the mail." Dividends, those cash distributions that many companies pay out regularly from their earnings to their stockholders, send a clear, powerful message about future prospects and performance.  A company's willingness and ability to pay steady dividends over time – and better yet--its power to INCREASE them each year–goes a long way towards communicating its fundamental strength and sustainability to shareholders. Today, we'll reveal key methods of selecting winning dividend stocks to help you invest better. Then, insurance and Medicare expert Shelley Grandidge joins us for the Q & A. A power-packed show today that you don't want to miss....MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!!

Playing catch up” with your investments is a term used to describe the idea of taking on more risk, rather than less, in the five years leading up to retirement. Many investors do this, especially during bull markets.It’s somewhat understandable. We all want to retire on the biggest pile of money we can, and many advisors actually TELL their clients that they “NEED” to take on more risk in order to catch up. That may or may NOT be good advice.  Back in the old days, it was very common for people to get completely out of the market at retirement, shifting all of their money into bonds, bank accounts, and annuities. Today,  investors are hungry for yield and have been buying up an investment issued by banks like UBS known as a leveraged Exchange Traded Note, or ETN, with some paying as high as EIGHTEEN percent! Today, we'll review a Wall Street Journal report about two engineers who thought they were doing quite well--until the pandemic came along. It might shock you.  A great show for you today, MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!

Today on Mastering Money...It’s a MOTLEY FOOL MONDAY!! The Motley Fool Money Show is one of the most popular stock market TALK SHOWS in America, featuring timely insights from top market experts and heard by millions of listeners coast to coast—including Saturdays right here on Money Radio! After an update of the markets and today's breaking financial news stories, we'll take you to an exclusive broadcast of the Motley Fool Money Show--plus money-making and money-SAVING ideas from Steve you won't want to miss! --it all starts NEXT... MASTERING MONEY IS ON THE AIR!

What if there was technology that could actually KILL the COVID 19 virus? After all, the best virus is a DEAD virus! And only half of Americans say they will actually take the vaccine if one is available. Regardless, the big challenges for getting our entire economy back will be the restaurant, hotel, and sports industries including both professional and college stadium sports. Unless we actually kill the virus, it will keep these industries from regaining previous levels. To get ourselves out of this mess, we must defeat this tiny little microbe. Well, there is a bit of good news. Scientists have learned a lot about the virus in six months. Killing the virus is not as complex as we might think. The pandemic has set off a global race for vaccines, treatments, and  testing --but nothing would take the place of actually KILLING the virus at the point of contact in public places. Today, we'll talk about robotic technology that is doing just that. Then Medicare and Health Insurance expert Shelley Grandidge joins us.  A great show you don't want to miss...MASTERING MONEY is on the air!!!