fbpx
Mission Critical Blog2022-10-26T17:50:21+00:00

The Mission Critical Blog

The best non-financial reason to delay retirement

By |August 2, 2022|Categories: Retirement Income Planning|

You’ve probably heard a number of good reasons to continue working longer than you may have to. The most prominent are financial. For example, qualifying for higher Social Security benefits. Every year you delay claiming your benefits from age 62 to 70, your monthly check can increase by about 8%. By continuing to work past what’s commonly regarded as retirement age, you can also maintain the continuity of your peak earning years’ income. And of course, by delaying [...]

Comments Off on The best non-financial reason to delay retirement

How long will high inflation last and what should you do about it?

By |July 26, 2022|Categories: Financial Market|

Most people understand that inflation is when prices go up. To be more precise, the International Monetary Fund defines it this way: "Inflation is the rate of increase in prices over a given period of time. Inflation is typically a broad measure, such as the overall increase in prices or the increase in the cost of living in a country (emphasis added)." While many measures of economic activity can seem abstract and far removed from everyday life, inflation affects all [...]

Comments Off on How long will high inflation last and what should you do about it?

A stock picker asks: Is it really worth all the work?

By |July 5, 2022|Categories: Financial Market|

When it comes to stocks, it’s easy to have a short memory. Everybody seems focused on what’s happening today and the near future. What are the pundits saying about this week? What are the forecasters predicting for the next quarter? Back in 2020, after the market shook off the shock of the pandemic, it came roaring back and major indexes like the S&P 500 ended the year at record levels. Going into 2021, stocks like Nordstrom and Peloton [...]

Comments Off on A stock picker asks: Is it really worth all the work?

Don’t Let Them Get Inside Your Head

By |June 20, 2022|Categories: Financial Market|

We talk about this all the time: the media has a powerful influence on its audience, and more times than not, what they choose to report on does not line up with what matters most. This disconnect can pose real risk to investors. The chart below is from an article that compares the difference between causes of death in the U.S. to what is most reported in the news1. It’s meant to question whether there is a disconnect between what we [...]

Comments Off on Don’t Let Them Get Inside Your Head

Exchange Traded Funds: What are they and should I invest in one?

By |June 14, 2022|Categories: Investment Management|

Since the earliest days of trading goods, humans have looked for ways to decrease risk by sharing a cut of the profits. For example, it wasn’t seen as wise to invest all your capital in a single ship. If it sank, you’d lose everything. So, you’d invest in several ships, hoping that at least a few of them would make it back. To better facilitate this “insurance” against total failure, merchants came up with the ingenious idea of [...]

Comments Off on Exchange Traded Funds: What are they and should I invest in one?

Why “buying the dip” is not a foolproof investing strategy

By |June 7, 2022|Categories: Financial Market|

On its face the strategy of “buying the dip” seems much more measured than merely trying to identify low-cost stocks that are destined to become the next Apple. But it’s still a risky strategy. Just like it sounds, to buy the dip is to purchase stocks that are temporarily undervalued. For example, Pitney Bowes, Paypal, and Meta (formerly Facebook) are all well-known, category-leading companies whose share prices have recently experienced a significant decline. Buying the dip would mean [...]

Comments Off on Why “buying the dip” is not a foolproof investing strategy
Go to Top