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Category: Financial Anxiety

Five retirement planning priorities if you plan to retire in the next 5 years

by Dave Conley on January 27, 2023.

Retirement is a time when many investors shift their focus from accumulating wealth to preserving and generating income from their existing assets. As an investor nearing retirement, there are several key considerations to keep in mind to ensure a successful transition into retirement. Here are the five most important things an investor within five years...

I am just trying to get ahead… (of who)?

by Dave Conley on January 13, 2023.

Just for a minute, imagine what it might feel like to be satisfied with simply having “Enough.” How might that change your priorities? Your daily schedule? It’s important you actually sit down and think about it because only you can define “Enough.” What might happen if you were to make this shift? Would you work less? Would you spend less? Would you sleep more? Would you quit your job and start something new? Would you give more to charity? Maybe nothing new would happen. But what I can tell you is this: If you can’t find a way to be satisfied with enough, you may never be satisfied with anything.

Economic forecasts for 2023.

by Dave Conley on January 6, 2023.

Predicting the direction of the market is like predicting when you will hit the bulls-eye in a dart game. The majority of the time throughout market history, the markets have been rising. History shows that the chance of your money growing in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds is much like the odds of your next dart hitting any number on the dartboard... except the bulls-eye. If you are going to try and time the market by moving your money in and out, you have to ask yourself how confident are you that you can hit the bullseye when you do.

2023 Outlook for economy & investors

by Dave Conley on December 23, 2022.

Recessions are painful, no doubt about it. But they are necessary to clean out the excesses of prior growth periods... “You can’t have such a sustained period of growth without an occasional downturn to balance things out.”

Are you an investor… or a gambler?

by Dave Conley on December 9, 2022.

In simple terms, speculators are trying to out-smart the markets while investors simply participate in the markets. The investment time horizon is also a very important factor as speculation tends to be over the short-term while investing is over the long-term.

Stress or Distress ? The difference is your perception.

by Dave Conley on December 2, 2022.

The S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial Average are not reality. Reality is not price-to-earnings ratios and technical market studies. Symbols on the computer screen are not the real world. In the real world, companies create wealth. Stock certificates don’t. Stock certificates are simply proxies for reality.

Setting SMART Goals

by Randy Chalmers on November 18, 2022.

If you haven’t used the SMART process for setting goals in your life or business, then you probably don’t know what the acronym means. S   – Specific M – Measurable A  – Attainable R  – Relevant T  – Time-bound Specific What exactly will be accomplished and by what means? Measurable How will your goal be...

Recessions – What, When, How, Why.

by Dave Conley on November 18, 2022.

The general economic model of a recession is that when unemployment rises, consumers are more likely to save than spend. This places pressure on businesses that rely on consumers’ income being spent. As a result, company earnings and stock prices decline, which can fuel a negative cycle of economic decline and negative expectations of returns.

How much is enough?

by Dave Conley on November 4, 2022.

How much money is enough? For John D. Rockefeller the answer was “just a little bit more.” At the pinnacle of his success, Rockefeller had a net worth of about 1% of the entire US economy (about 1/3 of a trillion dollars). He owned 90% of all the oil & gas industry of his time....

The “secret” to investing success is spelled TIME

by Dave Conley on October 21, 2022.

The hamster wheel literally describes the concept of lots of activity but making no progress. In times of crisis, either real or imagined we are encouraged to do something. If your house is on fire or if you witness a car accident you must do something and quick. Why is it that doing nothing when it comes to our investments is so difficult. When clients ask "what are you doing..." sometimes the better question is "is there anything that needs to be done" related to our investments? Are you OK with doing nothing when nothing needed to be done?