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If you lived through the 1970s, you probably know the visceral fear that accompanies the word “inflation” combined with the power of compounding. During that “Great Inflation” period, the rate of price increases surged to double-digit levels—reaching 14% by 1980. Businesses were destroyed; household budgets were shredded. Only by raising interest rates to a painful
The greatest risk to retirement success? For most of us, it’s shortfall risk ‒ the chance that our savings will expire before we do. Shortfall risk typically arises from one or both of these shortcomings: (1) not taking the time and doing the work to study how much we might need, or (2) the lack
The year was 1983: The U.S. invaded Grenada. A gallon of gas cost 96 cents. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video premiered. That year was also the last time that recipients of Social Security disability benefits saw a cost-of-living increase steeper than the one just announced for 2022. This year, benefits will rise 5.9 percent, the sharpest
When the team at Intelligent Capitalworks is getting to know a new client, one of our most important goals is understanding the person’s comfort level with investment risk. We ask them how they’d feel if the market were to go through a really bad downturn, possibly even a prolonged one. It’s not a theoretical question;
Dividend Reinvestment is a Compounding Accelerator In last month’s commentary discussing the strengths of dividend growth stocks, we made the case that they should play a key part in a retirement income strategy. Of great importance, we note that dividend reinvestment is a compounding accelerator in this month’s commentary. Is dividend reinvesting compounding? The fact
Investing in High-Quality Companies At Intelligent Capitalworks, we believe that the key to long-term investment success is being a discriminating buyer and a patient owner of great businesses ‒ in other words, investing in high-quality companies at a fair price and owning them a long time. We didn’t invent this bit of wisdom ‒ it’s
The SECURE Act, passed at the end of 2019, changed a number of rules regarding inherited IRAs, making it more difficult for most beneficiaries to save on taxes by “stretching” distributions over many years. However, an exception to the new rules potentially changes advice that special needs planners often give clients. For many reasons, it’s
If you have a child with disabilities, it is crucial to set money aside for the child’s future. At the same time, you need to consider your child’s access to public benefit programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), as well as state benefit programs and state and federal taxation. The two major
Among the costs of caring for a dependent with special needs are the fees for professional advice. Some families are tempted to save on these costs by setting up a plan on their own. This can be attractive because so much information is available online, free of charge. Because low-cost platforms and templates abound, it
There’s a great bumper sticker out there that reads: “Organized people are just too lazy to search for stuff.” The quip gave me a laugh when I saw it a couple of years back while sitting at a traffic light. To some of us, the idea of being organized seems humorously far-fetched – and more
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