Quiz – Knowledge Check
I’m posing this question as a fun little exercise to check investors’ basic understanding of risk / return dynamics.
What’s a “better” portfolio (assuming buy-and-hold) based on the return streams below, and why?
A. Portfolio A
B. Portfolio B
C. Neither: They’re equivalent
$27 Trillion National Debt and Counting, How It Gets Paid and Who Pays It
The debt of the US government recently crossed $27 trillion. Additionally, there are talks for another $2 trillion of stimulus (which the stock market is loving by the way). So, if passed, that would put the US national debt at around $29 trillion!
We should note that the US National Debt was about $20 trillion at this time in 2016. So, the debt was doubled to $20 trillion from $10 trillion (2008-2016) during President Obama’s two terms and looks to be on pace to double again over the subsequent two terms based on the increase thus far in President Trump’s first term.
A $29 trillion debt represents almost $90,000 per US citizen. That means a household with four people has about $360,000 as their share of the national debt in addition to their own private debt and their state and local government debt. Consider that total US household debt is about $14 trillion so that’s another $42,000 per citizen, or $170,000 for that same household of four on average.
Let’s consider what this really means. Continue reading “$27 Trillion National Debt and Counting, How It Gets Paid and Who Pays It”
Benefits of Working Longer
This morning I came across an interesting study produced by researchers from The Wharton School, “Working Longer Solves (Almost) Everything: The Correlation Between Employment, Social Engagement and Longevity.”
I’ve always believed that folks who retire should continue to do something productive well into retirement.
Based on my own experiences with retiring clients and family over the years, I’ve long believed continuing some sort of meaningful work into retirement would have a positive impact on retirees’ physical and mental health and longevity. Well, this study confirms that and more!
The study found that working longer produces three primary benefits for older adults:
- Financial security
- Physical health
- Mental health
Thoughts on Password Management and Storage
Where do you store your passwords? Do you maintain a notebook with them all written down? How about an excel spreadsheet? Some other document on your computer? The “Notes” app on your phone? These are inferior ways of storing your passwords for a variety of reasons including; security, convenience, password-generation, etc… Continue reading “Thoughts on Password Management and Storage”