Buy small cap ETFs such as the iShares Russell 2000 (IWM) or the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR).
Lessons Learned from Retirees
Lessons from retirees on their biggest retirement regrets
Thousands of Americans retire every day short on cash, friendships and plans. Investing for retirement means more than just stashing money in a 401(k). It’s equally important to cultivate the interests, relationships and activities that will fill our days with purpose and satisfaction when we retire.
Many retirees say they realized too late:
- Retirees could have prepared for a more financially secure and rewarding postwork life.
- Retirees would have focused on saving more money to cover the higher cost of living.
- Retirees would have put more time into building relationships, taking better care of their health or cultivating new pursuits.
- Retirees frequently don’t realize how much their career provided a sense of identity and self-worth.
The best predictor of longevity, health and happiness in later life is the quality of your relationships. That is the finding of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has followed families for decades.
The life expectancy for a 65-year-old is 84 for men and nearly 87 for women, according to projections by the Society of Actuaries based on 2019 data.
Surveys suggest many Americans vastly underestimate those numbers. Of 1,500 adults ages 45 to 80 polled by the Society of Actuaries in 2015, 41% of preretirees and 37% of retirees underestimated their life expectancy by five or more years, while 14% of preretirees and 18% of retirees underestimated it by two to four years.
A person who postpones benefits until age 70 instead of 62 would have to live to at least 80 to come out ahead.
Last year, Social Security paid out $1.38 trillion in overall benefits and got most of its funding from payroll taxes that generated $1.23 trillion. Believing that Social Security will vanish is akin to believing that these taxes will vanish too, policy analysts say.
Still, if Congress doesn’t shore up the program’s finances, projections show that it could be able to pay out only 83% of scheduled benefits in 2035, when the combined contents of its two trust funds would be depleted.
Learning is another key strategy.
Strategies to ward off dementia include getting more sleep, exercising and eating a healthy diet to maintain brain health, said Rudolph Tanzi, a Harvard Medical School professor of neurology and co-author of “The Healing Self.”
Even people who don’t have Alzheimer’s show cognitive changes with aging, so it is important to keep learning to keep your brain healthy, said Yaakov Stern, professor of neuropsychology at Columbia
References:
Parable: “200 Year Old Watch”
A dying father called his son to his bedside and presented him with an old pocket watch. The father said,
“Your grandfather gave this watch to me. It is more than 200 years old. But, before I give it to you, I want you to go to the watch shop and tell the owner you want to sell it. Ask him what price he would pay for it.”
The son went to the watch shop and then returned to his father’s bedside. He reported, “The watchmaker said he would pay $5 for the watch because it is old and scratched.”
The father then said to the son, “Go to the coffee shop and ask the owner if he would be interested in buying the pocket watch and what he would be willing to pay.”
The son ran to the coffee shop and quickly returned. He told his father, “The coffee shop owner said he didn’t have much use for an old pocket watch but offered $3 for it.”
Finally, the father told the son, “Go to the museum and show them the watch.”
The son left for the museum and returned with a look of astonishment on his face. He whispered, “Father, the curator at the museum offered me $10 million for this pocket watch!”
The father laid his head back, closed his eyes and said: “I wanted you to experience for yourself that the right place, and the right people, will value your value in the right way.
Never put yourself in the wrong place, with the wrong people, and then get angry when you don’t feel valued. Don’t stay in a place, or with people, that don’t value your value. Know your worth and while being confident in your own value look for the value and the potential worth of others.”
The lesson of this parable is that you must value your own value. Along with recognizing your value you must also avoid putting yourself in the wrong place, with the wrong people, who don’t or who are unable to value your value.
Be Strong
.“Strong people make as many mistakes as weak people. Difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong.”
“Great things never come from comfort zones. Embrace change and challenge yourself to grow.”
Your habits dictates your behavior and your BEHAVIOR DETERMINES your DESTINY
Chipotle Stock Split
Chipotle Mexican Grill’s first-ever 50-to-1 stock split will be one of the largest in New York Stock Exchange history. The split will cut Chipotle’s share price to about $64 each from nearly $3,200 each now.
Splits don’t change the market value of a company, but the smaller share price may be more attractive to retail investors, making them popular vehicles for companies.
Chipotle shares are up nearly 40% this year. CFO Jack Hartung has said the move can help it reward employees.
Chipotle’s split comes after some other high profile ones this year, including Nvidia’s and Walmart’s. Chip maker Broadcom is set to split its stock in July.
Overall there are nine stock splits this year through July, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, up from two in the same time period last year.
History shows that companies tend to outperform after splitting their stock, even though nothing fundamentally changes about their business.
BofA Global Research found that average returns are about 25% during the 12 months after a split is announced, versus 12% gains for the S&P 500
Margin of Safety
Seek investments where the asset’s intrinsic value significantly exceeds the market price – a concept known as a “margin of safety.”
Investing is all about finding opportunities to buy assets below their true worth.
“It is extraordinary to me that the idea of buying dollar bills for fifty cents takes immediately with people or it doesn’t take at all. It’s like an inoculation. If it doesn’t grab a person right away, I find you can talk to him for years, and show him records, and it just doesn’t make any difference. They just don’t seem able to grasp the concept, simple as it is…I’ve never seen anyone who became a gradual convert over a ten-year period to this approach. It doesn’t seem to be a matter of I.Q. or academic training. It is instant recognition or it is nothing.” ~ Warren Buffett
Source: http://mastersinvest.com/newblog/2017/6/12/50c-dollars
Peter Lynch Rule 5:
Peter Lynch, the Fidelity investing guru, once said:
“When stocks are attractive, you buy them. Sure, they can go lower—I’ve bought stocks at $12 that went to $2, but then they went to $30.”
With this in mind, never invest in a company without understanding its finances.
The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets.
Always look at the balance sheet to see if a company is solvent before you risk your money on it.
Understand how a company makes its revenue and maintains its cash flow.
Peter Lynch Rule 3:
In the short run, the stock market acts like a “voting machine”, while functioning in the long run more like a “weighing machine”. ~ Warren Buffett
Often, in the short term, there is no correlation between the success of a company’s operations and the success of its stock over years.
In the long term, there is a 100% correlation between the success of the company and the success of its stock.
The disparity is the key to successful long-term investing.
Such opportunities arise occasionally because in the short run the stock market acts like a “voting machine” (reflecting all kinds of irrational attitudes and expectations), while functioning in the long run more like a “weighing machine” (reflecting a firm’s true value).
Higher or Conscious Self
Be Grateful and Find Joy in Every Momemt!
The higher or conscious self plays a significant role in shaping your experiences and perceptions.
The higher or conscious self is the true essence of who we are, connected to higher wisdom, intuition, and universal consciousness. This aspect of our being transcends the limitations of our physical existence and egoic mind. It embodies qualities such as deep wisdom and insight, unconditional love, compassion, authenticity, integrity, unity, oneness, calm, and presence.
The higher self operates from a place of unconditional love and empathy, guiding us to live in alignment with our true values and purpose. It recognizes the interconnectedness of all beings and sees beyond the illusion of separation created by the ego, providing a sense of inner peace and presence.
By strengthening the connection to the higher self, one can transcend limitations and live a more authentic, fulfilled, and purpose-driven life.
Learning to trust inner wisdom over external influences is key to aligning more closely with the higher self and achieving personal growth and self-awareness. This balance allows for a life led by intuition and inner wisdom, ultimately fostering deeper fulfillment and alignment with one’s true essence.
Source: https://m.facebook.com/story.php
Gratitude, Positive Thinking and Mindset
Gratitude, positive thinking and positive mindset can decrease your stress and anxiety, and scientists have proven it.
A 2021 study found that gratitude and verbal encouragement can help students to perform better in school and on tests.
Praise and positive attention have also been linked to better behavior in teenagers and kids.
Gratitude and appreciation are core positive psychology practices that have been shown to boost physical, mental, and emotional health.
Building daily gratitude habits and communicating more appreciation toward others are also some of the simplest ways to gradually shift to a more positive mindset and experience the joys of life more deeply.
Source: https://pro.positivepsychology.com/sale-page/17-gratitude-exercises/