CAPitalize Your Finances

CAPitalizers: It's time to get real!  It's been my experience that using real-world examples is one of the most effective tools to help people understand the sometime less-than-concrete concepts of financial planning.  In this episode, I take three hypothetical couples and apply some real numbers to their current financial situations.  I'll design a strategy for each of them, and I&...

Most everyone loves a good guarantee, right?  This is especially true where retirement income is concerned.  The more guaranteed income you have, the less pressure there is on your portfolio to perform. There are several options available to you when you're considering some type of guaranteed income.  The questions is this: who is making the guarantees?  And what are the conditions you have t...

Income in retirement – what a concept!  Actually, it’s more than a concept, it’s a vital part of life, whether you’re retired or not.  You won't live a very good life without some kind of income.  The more predictable and stable that income, the better.   As I said in my previous podcast, having and maintaining an income is a lot easier to do if you’ve got a process – a strategy – behind it. ...

Human beings have two distinct methods of thinking: the rational and the emotional. When it comes to finances, you're more likely better served by listening to the rational side; but the reality is that most people seem to make decisions based on the emotional side. This can be a real detriment to retirement savings.  Jumping out of the markets after they've already dropped is a common r...

One of the most important things that CAPitalizers learn early on is that short-term financial needs must be matched to short-term financial assets.  If you need your money to be there for you tomorrow, next month, or next year, you want it exposed to as little risk as possible. Short-term investments are designed to trade rate of return for relative safety.  But what exactly is a short-term inves...

The common components of many investment portfolios are stocks, bonds and cash.  And that's fine, in many cases.  But sometimes, a little more is needed: what we often call "alternative investments." One of those alternative investments may involve real estate.  As CAPitalizers, we understand the importance of knowing what our options are, how they work, and how to determine if they...

Part 2 of my fascinating interview with Atticus Lowe, co-manager and co-asset manager at 15 Equity, and author of “The Entrepreneurial Investor,” an investment book that I think all CAPitalizers should read.   In today's conversation, Atticus will talk about what he looks for when evaluating which company stocks (and what types of businesses) he would like to buy.  Are things like a company&a...

Stocks, like them or not, are an integral part of most long-term investment strategies.  As CAPitalizers, it’s important to know what role they play, and why you need to consider them when planning for your financial future.    Of course, choosing which stocks or funds you should own is not an easy task.  How this is done – both qualitatively and quantitatively – is a specialty all its own.      M...

When it comes to investing, you've got many choices -- perhaps TOO many!  How do you make sense of what types of investments are out there, and, more importantly, how do you decide which of these may be appropriate for you?   For the long-term investor (one with at least a 10-year time horizon), trying to sort through all of the options is a daunting task.  You want to make the right decision...

This may or may not come as a surprise to some people, but there's more to investing than just putting money into stocks -- a LOT more.  Even combining just the simple, conventional "Stocks and Bonds" portfolio may not be enough to get you where you want to go. It took the Big Crash of 2008 for me in the early days of my career to learn that the successful investors used more than j...

If you're a parent, you want to see your child succeed.  And if you're a brand new parent, you want to start your child off right, most likely from Day 1.  Good idea!  And yes - that includes getting them started on their own finances. This doesn't necessarily mean you're going to hand them a bunch of money before they can handle it.  But it does mean that you should be teachin...

Do you have a retirement plan at work?  Speaking here about a 401k, 403b, or a 457 plan for governmental and certain nongovernmental employers.  If so, you've got an opportunity to do some real saving here! What about Roth or traditional IRAs?  Where do those come in?  After all, those are types of personal retirement savings plans, and with a finite amount of money to put away each month, yo...

If you have money left over after your expenses are taken care of, what should you do with it?  This is what we call "gap" money, and where that money ultimately goes may be crucial to your financial success.   Before you go off and spend your extra cash on riotous living, you need to ask yourself several (or dozens) of questions first.  What are your options at this point? Tune in to th...

I recently read a few online surveys regarding savings and investing, which I found to be rather astonishing.  The general tone of them all seems to suggest that far too many Americans have no household budget, and some have absolutely nothing saved for retirement! What's also interesting (and pleasantly surprising) is that the average American also seems to have a rather large amount of free...

One of the more exciting aspects of financial planning is setting yourself up for the future.  While making and sticking to monthly budgets may be a bit boring (although necessary), learning to invest your money for the future, and knowing there is potential for it to grow (maybe a LOT!), can make things really interesting and exciting. Today's podcast talks about how you can CAPitalize tomor...

On the last episode, I talked about the differences between "good" and "bad" debt.  And yes, there are differences: major ones!   To follow up on that, this week's podcast is devoted to CAPitalizing your debt RATE.  This is because there's a big difference between what you owe, and how much interest you have to pay on what you owe.   Finance is all about the little th...

For those who are accustomed to hearing that all debt is bad, when they're told that there is actually such a thing as "good debt," they're often more than a little skeptical.  This can be a hard concept for many people to understand. Believe it or not, there are strategic ways to utilize debt to your potential advantage.  The key is to understand which debts are good, and whic...

For those who owe a lot of money to creditors, debt can seem like a really bad thing.  And the bigger the debt, the worse the situation.  And for those on the other side of the spectrum, those who are essentially debt-free, life can certainly seem a lot easier, at least financially speaking. There's no shortage of financial pundits who tell you how much better your life will be if you elimina...

People sometimes wonder if "Cash is King," or if "Cash is Trash."   What if the answer is neither...or both?   Something as simple as how much you need to have in savings truly depends on your individual situation -- and the variables are endless.  Do you work for the government and have a steady income?  Are you an owner of a company where your income fluctuates?  Are you a de...

An often-overlooked aspect of personal finance is how much you spend each month -- yet getting a grasp on it is "mission critical."   For many people, talking about spending and expenses is embarrassing, overwhelming, and sometimes downright despicable.  My question is this: why does it have to be that way? Wouldn't it be great if you could have someone to listen to, who can calmly...

Cash: is it good or is it bad?   Here's a better question: How much is too much?  Believe it or not, there is such thing as having too much cash!   On today's Episode, "CAPitalize Your Cash," I take you through the good, bad and ugly in regards to this often-misunderstood asset.  Cash is both valuable and useless -- so understanding the BALANCE is key.   Tune in, and prepare to...

Whether putting their money in thrilling investments like stocks, real estate, private equity or other risky assets, people tend to get caught up on the excitement of TOMORROW.   The problem, though, is this: what if you're not ready for TODAY?   In this episode, "CAPitalize Today before you CAPitalize Tomorrow," I will talk about the tools you need --  things to do today -- that wi...

In the previous episode of my podcast, I told you about my personal experiences and how I got to where I am today.  As we continue our journey toward becoming CAPitalizers, one vital question to ask yourself is this: what is your purpose?   It's a bigger -- and broader -- question than it may seem.  You may want to have a financial purpose, and that's great.  But if you just dig a little...

Why "CAPitalize?"  And what does it mean? On today's podcast, as we kick off Season 2, I want to focus on my personal history for a moment.  I'll give you my "back story," as they call it in the media biz, and how - and why - my life changed for the better just a few short years ago. To capitalize means to take the advantage when it presents itself.   I struggled at a...

For nearly 30 years, we've been referring to the guideline that taking 4% from your portfolio may be the most optimal amount to keep you from running out of money over an average retirement. Is this so-called "4% Rule" still valid in a time of high stock values and low interest rates?  Or should it be revised higher -- or lower? -- to reflect more realistic scenarios?  Chris Panagio...