Patti and I traveled this week to Denver (Patti’s sister and family) and to St. Louis (my brother and his wife and family of Patti’s brother who died last spring). So, this post is far lighter than normal. The good news this week for Patti

How do you set your mix of stocks and bonds before the start date of your retirement? Patti and I officially started our retirement plan in December 2014. That was the first year we took a full withdrawal from our nest egg for our spending

Every January, I complete the Morningstar nine-box display of returns for segments of the market: the box is a matrix of annual returns by company size category (Large, Mid or Small Cap) and investment style (Value, Blend, or Growth). I did not realize that Fidelity

Many of my friends don’t have the inclination, confidence or basic spreadsheet skills to be self-reliant investors. They hire a financial advisor so they don’t have to deal with what are very simple tasks for us nesteggers. The time they’d invest to gain modest skills

Two weeks ago I read this article “The Long-Term Forecast for US Stock Returns = 7.5%”. When I adjust for the assumption for inflation, the article forecasts a ~5% real annual return for stocks vs. the historical average of ~7%. That’s 30% lower