Michael James on Money
WEBSep 6, 2024 · Buying stocks is “costly unless you buy reasonable chunks (100 shares or so) of each stock.”. You can “call the fund company’s toll-free number” and invest by “mailing in a cheque.” “A great deal of emphasis is placed on who manages a specific fund” – this is mostly a thing of the past. “Invest in a handful of funds (five ...
Retirement Income for Life (Second Edition) - Michael James on …
WEBFeb 19, 2021 · Enhancement 1: Reducing Fees. The first enhancement is to reduce investment fees. The Thompsons go from 1.8% MERs to 0.6% MERs using a robo-advisor. Over 25 years, this reduces the fees bite from 36% to 14%. “Simply reducing fees adds nearly three more years of RRIF income” for the Thompsons.
Michael James on Money: 2021
WEBDec 31, 2021 · Of the $112,000 jump in stock value, we shifted $65,000 over to bonds, and left only $47,000 of it in stocks. Although the bond allocation went from 20% to 27%, a 35% increase, the dollar amount in bonds rose 65%. This is a substantial shift, and it leaves a healthy bond buffer if stock prices subsequently crash.
Michael James on Money: 2022
WEBDec 30, 2022 · How much can we spend from a portfolio each year in retirement? An early answer to this question came from William Bengen and became known as the 4% rule.Recently, Ben Felix reported on research showing that it’s more sensible to use a 2.7% rule.Here, I examine how a seemingly minor detail, the size of the sampling blocks of stock and bond returns, affects the final conclusion of the safe ...
Invest As I Say, Not As I Do - Michael James on Money
WEBNov 10, 2021 · Hi Graeme, Thanks for the kind words. If you can quantify your savings from using U.S.-listed ETFs and strategic asset location choices, that should give you a good idea of whether the extra effort is worth the return.
Michael James on Money: A Life-Long Do-It-Yourself Investing Plan
WEBMar 31, 2021 · A Life-Long Do-It-Yourself Investing Plan. The financial products available today can make do-it-yourself (DIY) investing very easy, as long as you don’t get distracted by bad ideas. Here I map out one possible lifetime plan from early adulthood to retirement for a DIY investor that is easy to follow as long as you don’t get tempted by ...
Michael James on Money: Annually Recalculated Virtual Annuity
WEBJan 17, 2022 · A related idea is the Annually Recalculated Virtual Annuity (ARVA) where you invest as you see fit and choose your retirement spending level as though your portfolio were invested in inflation-protected government bonds. Then each year you recalculate your spending level based on your new portfolio size, your new age, and prevailing bond ...
What to Do About Crazy Stock Valuations - Michael James on …
WEBDec 13, 2021 · Suppose a $500,000 portfolio with a 20% bond allocation sees a jump in the CAPE from 25 to 32. This is a 28% increase in stock prices. So, we started with $100,000 in bonds and $400,000 in stocks, and the stocks jumped in value to $512,000 for a total portfolio size of $612,000.
Calculating My Retirement Glidepath - Michael James on Money
WEBMay 4, 2020 · Here is one of those rules: Rule 1: Only invest in stocks with money I won’t need for 5 or more years. This isn’t new on its own. However, I’ve used it to guide my asset allocation glidepath before and after retirement. It’s not obvious how this rule determines my asset allocation glidepath, but it does. Before retirement, there was ...
My Investment Return for 2020 - Michael James on Money
WEBJan 21, 2021 · Last year I said I wasn’t counting on 2020 delivering another year of double-digit returns. Well, despite a wild ride in the stock market, I wasn’t too far from double digits with a return of 7.7%. This almost exactly matches my 2020 benchmark return of 7.6%.