Social Security Discussion

by Michael Lecours | Aug 26, 2015 | Economy, Investment Strategies, Retirement, Uncategorized

CNBC posted an article online yesterday about how to collect social security. It’s over simplified and generalizes the issues and concepts.  The interesting part was the number of comments the article received.  Close to 600 comments over the last 36 hours!  It was...

How to Save for Retirement When You Can’t Work Longer

by Michael Lecours | Aug 12, 2015 | Investment Strategies, Retirement, Uncategorized

When working longer is no longer an option, it is time to develop strategies to maximize your remaining resources. A combination of planning, adapting and downsizing may be the best course. Evaluate the Situation At age 60 or so, life has usually simplified. Children...

The Myth of Putting All Your Eggs in One Basket

by Michael Lecours | Jul 16, 2015 | Asset Allocation, Finding Confidence, Investment Strategies, Retirement, Uncategorized

We’ve all heard not to put all our eggs in one basket when it comes to investing. Most of us would agree that sure, it’s good to have diversification but it seems like this concept of diversification has become misunderstood. When someone says to me “I...

How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake When Starting Social Security

by Michael Lecours | Jun 25, 2015 | Investment Behavior, Investment Strategies, Retirement, Uncategorized

The media is causing millions of Americans to make a serious mistake when it comes to social security collection strategies.  We see articles that discuss  ways to “maximize” the social security benefit using clever, new methods such as the “file and suspend”...

Steps to Take After Leaving a Job to Get Your Financial Life in Order

by Michael Lecours | Jun 18, 2015 | Finding Confidence, Investment Behavior, Investment Strategies, Saving, Uncategorized

Leaving a job can be a frightening proposal, even if you’re moving up in the world—navigating retirement plan rollovers, lost and gained benefits, pay and cost-of-living changes, and the other variables can feel quite daunting. Fortunately, if you take a moment and...

Do You Have an Out-of-Whack Portfolio?

by Michael Lecours | Jan 18, 2015 | Asset Allocation, Investment Strategies, Retirement, Rule of Thumb, Uncategorized

Research out of Investment Company Institute found that 11% of investors have not rebalanced their investments in the last five years.  As the US stock market continues its bull run, the value of US stocks represent a larger and larger portion of the portfolio. All of...