First Blog

The TINA Effect Where do you NOT want to be? In a situation where you must act in a certain way and there is no alternative, like it or not. This can happen if you’ve been unemployed and along comes a job offer you know you don’t want but must take, like it or not. Other examples happen in relationships. You have a girlfriend and the relation is not working and you know the future is bleak. A break is needed. Similarly, you don’t respect your boss and you know there is no repair and thus no alternative but to part. Other times, you may need surgery badly – with no alternative. Many examples abound with friends and family, especially pertaining to the future. This situation has a name: The TINA effect – "There is no alternative." Originally created in business for portfolio management about where money should flow, it usually means that there is no other repository for money other than equity markets as opposed to bonds, gold, etc. But it is easily be applied

In retirement, I watch a lot of business shows.   Here the news is mostly factual, not given to political rhetoric - thankfully.   Most of the shows’ hosts bring in financial leaders to forecast, to project, to explain investment strategies, and otherwise discuss Wall Street comings and goings.   The comments vary, from bull to bear, and from optimistic to pessimistic, from data to anecdote Almost without variation most financial strategists follow first order cause-effect policies.   The market does this, we do that.   Seldom do you see a strategist with an overall command of fiscal conditions.   Their methods are simple and ad hoc . Sometimes, it seems like there is a predictions club where all read what the others write.   This could be a CYA symptom, as they have high paying jobs and must at all times justify their salaries are well deserved.     Some filter their comments through their politics, but either way, it’s useless. From time to time, they offer stock picks.   L

I know I’m there with my kin in the “stockyard of investors,” waiting for relief, hoping for green pastures, but fearing I’m meant for the block. I moo a lot, but uneasiness is all around me.  Up a little, down a little more. Will I be totally corrected? Not just 10% but 20% or more. Signed, Small Time Investor

Dear Kids,  Experts recommend you save 10% of your income each year for retirement. Do you? This is just the beginning.  Make sure you put the money into a 401K plan, the only way you can build a substantial nest egg.  For me, I would need $500,000 in savings just to pay my property tax with the 1% interest, if I invested in a bank savings account.   Put your money where you can't get at it .  Not banks. "Banks shaft you in two ways, high interest when you borrow and minuscule interest when you save." Only 39% of Americans can meet a $1000 emergency.  Can you?  If you cannot, you are in dire straits.  About 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.   Is you, then ditto.  Have a two month minimum, hopefully eight month financial cushion. Actually, much more if you're in your forties. About 38% of Millennials believe $200,000 is enough for retirement.  Do you?  Of course, this is ridiculous.  You need at least $1,000,000 just to begin thinking about ret