You May Not Believe It Until You Read It, But It’s True. The shocking truth about index investing is that reality can be very different from theory. Index investing funds are wildly popular with Americans: As of year-end 2021, “passive” equity and fixed income index funds managed total net assets of $5.7 trillion, according to
With the days of company pensions faded into memory, it’s up to most of us to build and manage our own pension plans ‒ and manage the multi-million dollar retirement planning question ourselves. How much do we need? And what are the possibilities that we suffer shortfall risk – the possibility that our savings will
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
The the key takeaway from the first chapter of Morgan Housel’s remarkable book, The Psychology of Money – “Every decision people make with money is justified by taking the information they have at the moment and plugging it into their unique mental model of how the world works.” This book is one of the best
Investing in high-quality companies at a fair price and owning them a long time is our core investment discipline. 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. We didn’t invent this investment strategy ‒ it’s been applied by many
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
Portfolios of high quality dividend growth stocks have fulfilled the need for a steady, sustainable and rising stream of income capable of keeping pace with inflation for decades. This is especially appealing of course for those who are building a portfolio of investments to sustain them for decades in retirement. The income from dividend growth
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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