Wealth and Wisdom: Week of November 1, 2021
As Congress tries to legislate trillions of dollars in new spending, inflation seems to be taking hold in every corner of the economy. If you were around in the Seventies, you can remember what it’s like when what you pay for things goes up much faster than how much you earn.
A lot of “experts” whose experience with inflation and stagnant economic growth comes entirely from economics textbooks believe this recent bout of price hikes is nothing more than a temporary disruption in the supply-chain. Let’s all hope they are right. Better yet, let’s be thinking about what we should do if they are not.
Have a great week!
Sneaky rascals
A plan in Congress to keep the wealthy from making Roth IRA conversions wouldn’t take effect for a decade. Guess why that is. (Reading time: 3 minutes)
How prolonged inflation impacts financial planning
How long-term inflation eats away at your savings – and what you can do about it. (Reading time: 7 minutes)
Will inflation kill the stock market?
It certainly won’t help – but historically it’s not as bad as you might assume. (Reading time: 3 minutes)
And rising dividends can help
Companies that increase their dividends can provide a hedge against inflation – and a way to help you build wealth. (Reading time: 4 minutes)
Poor Millennials?
Based on where they stand at the same point in their lives, it would appear that Millennials are better off than Boomers and Gen-Xers were. (Reading time: 4 minutes)
Can you retire on $1 million?
Making money last as long as you need it to depends a lot on where you live. (Reading time: 3 minutes)
How claiming early impact spousal benefits
If your spouse will receive Social Security benefits based on your earnings record, think twice about claiming your own benefit before retirement age. (Reading time: 4 minutes)
Life after work
How to replicate the things you enjoy about working to make your retirement better. (Reading time: 4 minutes)
One solution to the supply-chain crisis
This is likely to be a challenging holiday shopping season – so what if the way around it is simply to buy less stuff? (Reading time: 10 minutes)
Mike’s Pro Tip of the Week
The rule of thumb is that you should have three to six months of living expenses squirreled away in an emergency reserve fund. In truth, however, the size of your reserve should be based on how you get paid. If your income varies greatly month-to-month (as with commissioned sales, for example), you’ll probably need even more. Same goes if you’re self-employed or a one-income family. Those with stable incomes and greater job security, on the other hand, can likely get by with less. And in both cases, don’t forget about money you might have access to in a crisis, such as loans from family members, life insurance cash value, and home equity lines of credit.
Words To The Wise
“Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the Treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike, and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”
Judge Learned Hand
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