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Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on October 11th, 2016
By Mark Wendell
Wise people understand the popular axiom: Price is only an objection in the absence of value. This idea applies especially well to the Investment Advisory world. As an investor, what are you willing to pay for genuine, educated, unbiased, fiduciary-fee-only investment advice? What is surprising is that there are still investors who would rather go it alone by trying to use the ‘do it yourself’ approach or by using a computer automated ‘robo’ approach, thinking they can do better on their own, or that investment advice is not worth the price, or both. With the average fee charged by investment advisors between one and two percent annually, some investors are asking themselves whether the advice they receive actually results in an advantage in their investment performance. In other words, could they do better on their investment returns if they didn’t have to pay an investment advisory fee?
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on October 11th, 2016
By Mark Wendell
How should your family successfully transfer wealth to benefit not just the next, but many generations? It starts with the first step, exercising immediate and on-going financial planning; a process to grow and protect assets, covering all of your household’s present and future financial requirements. The second step, estate planning, is designing a sound legal foundation, through wills, trusts, and other legal instruments to smoothly transfer those assets to intended heirs with a minimum of complications, maximum tax efficiency, and well defined outcomes. The third step is to spend many years consciously preparing a legacy through heritage planning, a process of laying a foundation to prepare heirs to manage both financial and emotional inheritances. With proper attention, heritage planning serves as a vital step to help shape and guide the financial and estate planning of current and following generations.
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on August 2nd, 2016
By Mark Wendell
Until recently, many retirees have been able to rely upon the three-legged stool of retirement income sources: A defined benefit pension plan that guarantees a lifetime income, their own savings, and Social Security. More recently however, the first leg of the stool has all but disappeared as many defined benefit pension plans have been replaced with defined contribution plans such as a 401(k) plan. In addition, many
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on August 2nd, 2016
By Mark Wendell
In many respects, people can be their own worst enemies in their quest for financial security. When you consider that our lives are nothing more than a culmination of the decisions we make each day, if we tend to make more bad decisions than good decisions, or worse, if we can’t make decisions at all, it shouldn’t be a surprise when financial security remains elusive.
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on August 2nd, 2016
By Mark Wendell
Have you made up your mind on just about everything, even before you understand the whole story? It is a normal human tendency to form opinions quickly and stick to them. For instance, when you meet someone, is your opinion of the person formed from the first impression? Or, when you hear a political argument from the other side, is your mind opened or closed?
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on August 2nd, 2016
By Mark Wendell
What are your Portfolio Performance Expectations?
In the story of Alice in Wonderland, Alice arrives at a fork in the road and wonders aloud which road to take. A smiling Cheshire Cat appears and asks her what her destination is, to which she replies, “I don’t know.” The toothy cat then proffers the only possible response, “Well, then it doesn’t matter.”
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on April 27th, 2015
by Craig L. Israelsen, Ph.D.
It happens to everybody. After spending your working years accumulating money, you face a rude awakening in retirement when that growth is replaced by withdrawal. This drawdown phase might be described as the relentless cracking of the retirement nest egg.
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on February 20th, 2015
By Mark Wendell
Part One.
Whether we are talking about our local or national monetary behavior, the function of economics is the same: to understand and influence how people interact monetarily as they go about their daily lives. Because the behavior of an economy reflects the behavior of individuals who make up an economy, we can think locally to understand how economic concepts, such as inflation, work on a national level.
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on January 21st, 2015
By Mark Wendell
Nobody understands risk, it seems. History is replete with brilliant people who made calamitous investment mistakes. To paraphrase a comment by Warren Buffett about a Wall Street firm’s collapse and the risks they took: “To make money they didn’t have and didn’t need, they risked what they did have and did need”.
Submitted by MD Wendell Wealth Partner on October 7th, 2014
By Mark Wendell
It is said that the X factor in economics is human behavior, which is why economics is said to be a social science. The study of investor behavior is referred to as behavioral finance, the combination of investments, economics and psychology, “a field of finance that proposes psychology-based theories to explain stock market anomalies…within behavioral finance, it is assumed that the information structure and characteristics of market participants systematically influence individuals’ investment decisions as well as market outcomes.” (Source: Investopedia)