Mark Bates

Ensuring Adequate Retirement Income – 5 steps

by

A short, to-the-point article from the Wall Street Journal about the 5 things to do to assure adequate income at retirement.  Good read.

URL Link to Article

How to Ensure Adequate Retirement Income

By JONATHAN CLEMENTS Aug. 30, 2014 8:30 p.m. ET Retirement is hard work these days. How do you generate enough income in a world where the S&P 500 yields roughly 2% and 10-year Treasury notes offer 2½%? Here’s my five-step plan:

1. Delay Social Security.

Suppose you retire at age 65, at which point you’re eligible for $20,000 a year in Social Security retirement benefits. If you put off benefits until age 70, you would miss out on five years of benefits worth $100,000. In the meantime, you’d likely have to cover your living expenses entirely out of savings. read more

Market Update September 1, 2014

by

Short, Medium and Long term indicators for the S&P 500 are all favorable.  The index itself is in the middle of an up channel.

Currently the S&P is at 2003.  The channel ranges from 1925 to 2050.  So there are 47 points above and 78 points below the current index value in the channel.  I would prefer a 2:1 ratio of upside potential to downside potential.  At a ratio of 47:78 we do not have that 2:1 target.  So I would wait for a slight pullback to put any additional monies into equity index funds or ETFs. read more