Author Archives: peter benedek
blog04feb2007
Hot Off the Web Both the Globe and National Post continued the almost daily articles on the income trusts saga. In “Trusts: Ottawa not victimizers” Chevreau explains why the narrow interests represented by the “Trust lobby had no hope against Flaherty” . Adding a nail to the income trust coffin the Bank of Canada message […]
blog28jan2007
Hot Off the Web In the NYT article entitled “A contrarian view: save less, retire with enough” Damon Darlin tables the debate on assets required to be saved for retirement. This is a debate between calculations of financial institutions (who at times are accused of trying to beef up assets under management) and some economists […]
blog21jan2007
Hot Off the Web “Getting more of what the market gives” in the WSJ focuses on why investors have to change the emphasis from investment returns in general toward the returns we receive as investors ourselves. Data shows that investors don’t receive anywhere near what the markets return (after fees, costs and taxes) due to […]
blog14jan2007
Hot Off the Web Interestingly, today’s WSJ in “Spending in Retirement” discusses the same important topic I covered in my last week’s blog on “Withdrawal Strategies in Retirement”. That is, how much can you withdraw from your portfolio without running out of money? The perspectives presented here are very similar. Here reference is made to […]
blog07jan2007
Hot Off the Web In the Globe and Mail article “Feeling well enough to work longer?” the results of an Investors Group sponsored Decima Research poll show that 65% of the working 45 to 64 year olds expect to do some work during retirement. However, only 23% of those surveyed were actually working in their […]
blog31dec2006
Hot Off the Web In “Making Your House Pay in Your Retirement” with the subtitle “Reverse Mortgages Turn your Home Equity into Income, and Costs- a Big Drawback- Are Coming Down” Opdyke of the WSJ discusses how growing competition and government action in the U.S. is starting to bring down the costs of reverse mortgages. […]
blog23dec2006
Hot Off the Web In Financial Post article “Live the Good Life, but Save for the Worst” Jonathan Chevreaux discusses how sudden changes in ones health situation reassesses one’s priorities and how “…should live each day as if it were our last because one day it will be. Spending as if there is no tomorrow […]
blog13dec2006
Hot Off the Web WSJ ran a special section on retirement. A couple of stand-out articles are: “The Retirement Lies We Tell Ourselves” discusses the quicksand upon which many build their retirement dreams. Examples include the false expectations of: working in retirement, the home as the safety net, living on 70-80% of pre-retirement income, getting […]
Fee-only planners/advisors(Canada/U.S.)
Fee-only planners/advisors(Canada/U.S.) In a nutshell If you are thinking of using an advisor, aim to get one working on a fee-only basis, prepared to offer a fiduciary relationship and includes an Investment Policy Statement as part of the deliverable. The details The education function of RetirementAction.comis focused in helping individuals to become Do-It-Yourself (DIY) investors; […]
Reverse Mortgage
Reverse Mortgage The following should be considered only an introduction to reverse mortgages. I have no personal experience with them, but if after reading this you still think that you want to explore this further, then you should get independent professional help to explore applicability to your specific circumstances and alternates to reverse mortgages. What […]