The Washington NFL Franchise recently sold for a record $6 billion. While it's hard for most people to comprehend such a large amount of money, based on the initial purchase price, the investment didn't return much more than a simple index fund.
If you were focused on these scary headlines this year, you might be surprised by how well the markets have performed. We’ve previously discussed why you shouldn’t be surprised by anything in the markets, but have you ever wondered why it always feels like things are worse now than they’ve ever been? A new study by Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert might help us understand this better. As the title of their NYT opinion piece says, “Your brain has tricked you into thinking everything is worse," and they identified two reasons why this happens...
A general rule of thumb in retirement planning says you can spend 4% of your starting portfolio value when you retire, then adjust that amount for inflation each year, and your money will last for at least 30 years. This rule is based on safe withdrawal rate research by Bill Bengen that was published in 1994. His research looked at historical market behaviors and determined that in every 30-year time period through history, this starting withdrawal rate would have made it through the 30 years without running out of money.
In our 2022 year-end commentary, we referenced Daniel Kahneman and told you, “The correct lesson to learn from surprises is that the world is surprising.” It seems appropriate that the first quarter of 2023 was defined by another big surprise - the collapse of two major banks, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank. What might be even more surprising is that despite these collapses and amidst the fear of a broader banking crisis, market returns were generally very positive in the first quarter.
The beginning of a new year is always a great opportunity to step back and think more broadly about the planning issues you should be considering right now. Coming off a challenging year like 2022 with investment losses in almost all asset classes, inflation at record levels, a war in Ukraine, a new retirement tax law, and the upcoming sunset of tax changes just three years away, there is much to discuss.
In today's world, we're surrounded by an ever-increasing amount of information and advice, and it can be overwhelming to decide which advice to follow. As a result, people are turning to new sources of guidance, including artificial intelligence (AI) platforms like Chat GPT. These platforms use advanced algorithms to provide tailored advice and suggestions based on a wide range of data inputs. While AI advice has many benefits, it raises questions about the role of humans in decision-making and the reliability of machine-generated guidance. In this blog post, we'll explore the pros and cons of AI advice compared to human advice and why AI platforms like Chat GPT are becoming so popular right now.