Many banking institutions now undergo annual stress tests to ensure they’re strong enough to survive another global financial crisis. Looking back, we now know that many banks appearing healthy and operational on the surface actually needed help. Had they conducted stress tests regularly, they may have just survived. As advisors, these bank stress tests and bank failures highlight a valuable lesson when it comes to investment plans—they too should be stress-tested to make sure they can endure future market volatility. Have you checked to see if your investment portfolio can survive another large market decline? Who performs annual stress tests on your portfolio to make sure you’re on the right track? * The Confidence Zone is the range of probabilities that you and your advisor select as your target range for the Probability of Success result in your Plan. Source: Money Guide Pro It’s important to know how your retirement goals and portfolio could be affected during the next market decline. Armed with this information, you can make adjustments so you’re better prepared. Go through these 4 steps to perform a stress test on your portfolio so you know you’re prepared. [+] Read More

Are you thinking of retiring soon, but are still unsure about when you should take Social Security retirement benefits? Here’s something you may not have known before: the Social Security retirement benefit system is set up to incentivize people to delay collecting benefits. If your financial situation enables you to delay collecting benefits, it could make a lot of sense for you to wait. Here’s a great introductory graphic that can help frame your thinking: Social Security Timing Tradeoffs (Click chart for larger version) Source: Social Security Administration, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. For illustrative purposes only. For 1955 - 1960, two months are added to the Full Retirement Age each year. [+] Read More

Financial advisors often ask the questions: what are your retirement goals? What do you dream of accomplishing? These are important questions and are central to the investment planning process. But they are broad in scope and it can be difficult to know exactly how to answer them. An important feature of solid retirement planning is prioritizing your retirement goals into groups. Do you have enough to cover healthcare expenses? Do you want to buy a second home? Pass along a certain amount of assets to your heirs? Which goal is more important than another? [+] Read More

JP Morgan research shows that on average, Americans age 65 and over will get two-thirds of their retirement income from Social Security and continued work/earnings. Surprisingly, only 11% of retirement income is expected to come from investment assets. For many high net worth investors, however, this number could be higher if they chose not to work or don’t have pensions or annuities. In reality, your sources of retirement income differ from other investors. Give yourself a better chance of maximizing your retirement income by knowing where it’s coming from and making sure your portfolio is structured accordingly.1 Source of Income at Retirement: Average for Age 65 and Older (Click chart for larger version) Source: EBRI (Employee Benefit Research Institute) Databook on Employee Benefits, Chapter 7. Data as of December 31, 2011. [+] Read More

Investors looking to diversify their portfolio across a broad spectrum of the stock market should consider money manager Geneva Advisors' All-Cap Growth Strategy. By investing in a wide range of equities meant to offer attractive capital appreciation opportunities, the strategy can provide investors broad diversification in their portfolios. [+] Read More

The transfer on death (TOD) account registration is a good way to establish beneficiaries on your non-retirement accounts. It ensures your assets are transferred to your chosen beneficiaries seamlessly, so your family may avoid the potentially costly, emotionally difficult, and drawn-out probate process. Why Set Up a TOD Registered Account? The TOD designation usually allows your family to bypass probate when distributing assets at your death. For instance, let’s say you have an individual brokerage account where you hold stocks and other securities, but you don’t have a TOD registration. When you pass away, those assets will likely move into probate, and legal parties will have to look to your last will and testament as a guide for how to distribute them. If the language in the will isn’t clear or there are questions, it could make an emotionally difficult time even more difficult for your heirs. The TOD registration bypasses all of that. It takes precedence over anything stated in the will, so the assets will be distributed as you want and there won’t be any questions asked. [+] Read More

In today’s investment world, there are dozens of investment products and strategies out there to choose from. It’s understandable that investors might get overwhelmed when trying to decide which option or combination of options seems like the right choice for them. But amidst all the variables, there’s one thing we encourage investors to remember and fall back on: it’s not so much about the products and strategies themselves; it’s how you allocate your portfolio across different areas of the market. The old fashioned approach still holds true: a properly diversified portfolio can provide better returns with less risk over time.1 [+] Read More

March 9, 2009 marked the end of one of the worst bear markets in stock market history, and the beginning of the bull market we’re currently in. Now 5 years and +177% later,1 many investors are wondering what the future holds. Is the market now overpriced? Is the next bear market around the corner? History can often help answer these types of questions, so we’ll take a look back at past bull markets to draw insight into the current environment. How Long Do Bull Markets Last? The average span of a bull market is a little under four years, but according to JP Morgan US Chief Equity Strategist Tom Lee, “averages don’t tell you anything.”1 Here’s one reason why: Stock Market Since 1900 (S&P 500 Composite Index) (Click chart for larger version) Source: Shiller, FactSet, J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Data shown in log scale to best illustrate long-term index patterns. P/E ratios shown at price peaks and troughs use trailing four quarters of reported earnings and are shown as a one year average. Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Chart is for illustrative purposes only. Guide to the Markets – U.S. Data are as of 12/31/13. [+] Read More

Let’s say you have a $1,000,000 investment portfolio, and you’re withdrawing $40,000 of annual income to meet your retirement spending needs. Adjusting your withdrawals up to $50,000 a year doesn’t seem like a big move, and in percentage terms it’s not – you’re only increasing them from 4% to 5%. But the impact it could have on your portfolio is significant, and it can really have an adverse effect on your long-term retirement goals: [+] Read More