Search results for: 4% rule

TOO MUCH CHOICE CAN be paralyzing. This is the reason many 401(k) plans have winnowed the list of funds they offer: Thanks to the smaller selection, participants are less likely to feel overwhelmed—and more likely to make an investment decision, rather than leaving their cash to languish in the plan’s money market fund.
I think this is a good strategy for other areas of our finances. For instance, you may make smarter investment decisions if you limit your choice by,

Articles
BELOW ARE LINKS to (relatively) recent articles, podcasts and videos from HumbleDollar’s editor, Jonathan Clements, that have appeared on other sites. Also included are articles by others devoted to his financial advice.

How Trump Administration Policies May Affect the Economy (podcast, Feb. 3)
Why Dying Is Hard Work (podcast, Jan. 17)

July-December 2024

Financial Resolutions for 2025 (podcast, Dec. 31)
Index Fund Advisors: The Scientific Investor (podcast,

CONFRONTED BY a complicated financial world, the temptation is to fall back on rules of thumb. But are these rules any good? Here are five of the most popular:
1. Save 10% every year. There are two knocks on this rule of thumb. First, the 10% of pretax income is the sum you’re meant to save for retirement—which means those who have other goals, like buying a house and paying for a child’s college education,

TEN-YEAR TREASURY notes are currently yielding 1.9%. That means today’s buyers will likely lose money, once inflation and taxes are figured in—and yet demand remains robust, as evidenced by 2016’s rise in Treasury bond prices.
The healthy appetite for Treasurys partly reflects the vast amount of excess capital sloshing around the global financial markets, as well as the tiny payouts on alternatives such as money-market funds and savings accounts. But it also reflects the current fear engendered by both stocks and lower-quality bonds.