In this issue of Creative Wealth:
Does Your Income Have “HIGH BETA”? (And if it does, what are you going to do about it?)
Financial analysts use a variety of mathematical metrics to evaluate the performance of individual stocks and indexes. One of these terms of evaluation is “beta,” the measure of a stock’s volatility in relation to a broader benchmark, usually an index. The higher the beta, the greater the volatility. Applying the concept to other areas of finance, economists are finding that many American households have “high beta” incomes, and this fluctuation is having a huge impact on personal finances as well as the national economy.
Hindsight Shows Three Days Have Mattered Most (But which three?)
What if the annual performance of your investments hinged on just three days each year? A statistical analysis shows how being in or out of the stock market for three days this year could have meant huge gains or losses. But is this information you can use?
RETIREMENT INCOME INSURANCE:
How to Make the Key Factor More than Just a Guess
“What’s my number? – That is, how much do I need to retire?”
These are pressing questions for individuals whose major financial objective is saving for retirement. And no matter how complex and sophisticated the process used to answer these questions, every retirement projection has at its core a calculation of Present Value. Most of the time, the critical factor in the generation of a Present Value calculation is nothing more than a guess, but there are ways to make retirement planning much more certain.
Deleveraging Vs. Saving
With the economic turmoil of the past few years still roiling their personal finances, many American households have made a focused effort to “deleverage,” that is, to pay down their debt balances. In fact, some people are even re-allocating their savings to pay off debt. However, while both debt reduction and saving are positive financial actions, it is important to remember that paying debt is not the same as saving.
Wishing you all the best this Thanksgiving weekend.
To read this month’s full edition click here, Creative Wealth November Edition.
