That Was The Week That Was –1st Week May

Experts predict that even a million dollars may not be enough to live on for retirement. Most people will never save even a fraction of that and they may just be fine if they don’t listen to the experts.

Retirement planning by the ‘so called experts’ demands that retirees not touch their principal. This has to be ignored if the average family wants to retire in relative comfort. Someone who’s saved $250,000 may only get an income of $10,000 a year, according to the experts. But, using both principal and earnings, on a portfolio that has a total return, on average, of 6% a year, a retiree may be able to get $24,000 a year income for 14.9 years, before running out of money. Do your own calculation using both principal and earnings using any online calculator. Or, go to my calculator section at primaryplanner.com

Money Manager Survey Illustrates Majority of Managers Bullish Over the Next 12 Months.

Report and chart from Barron’s.com April 25, 2014.

Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. market strategist at . RBC Capital Markets said on 4/28, ‘Bull market won’t die until a recession hits.’ And, according to Jonathan, we’re a long way from a recession.

MARKETS CLOSED MIXED MONDAY. APRIL 28th. Ditto Tuesday. Ditto-Ditto-Thursday.

 

Experts, see the chart at the top of the page, like European stocks. Investors may see value to compliment their domestic holdings.

MARKETS UP WEDNESDAY ACROSS THE BOARD.

• First Q GDP lousy. Only 0.1% versus estimate of 1.2%. Markets should have taken a nappy but…
• Chicago PMI showed stronger manufacturing growth.
• The Federal Reserve issued a statement saying the economy ‘improved’ in the last few months. Which is about the same thing they said in March. 2014. (information from Barron’s.com 5/1/2014).

WSJ reported Retirement Plan Investors are putting more money into stocks since the crash of 2008. Stocks accounted for 67% of all new money for the month of March. 5/2/2014

Bloomberg Reports Jobless Claims Unexpectedly Climbed to a 9 Week High. Personal spending rose as did income for the month of March. 5/2/2014

Barrons.com published Boston based money manager Jeremy Grantham’s essay on stocks and direction of the markets. Grantham’s still bullish and states we could see another 20% upside on the S&P. He also writes that 2008 was a true global asset  bubble and he fails to see that in today’s market. 5/2/2014

The Week closed down. Ukraine overshadowed a surprising job report- that still had some ‘sticky’ bits, such as there were 800,000 less job applicants due to dropping out, retiring or going back to school (CBS News reports 5/2). Investors sold off not wanting to come in Monday morning to invasion news (Bloomberg 5/2). John Manley, chief market strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management said of the Ukraine situation, ‘I don’t see it going away right away.’

Questions call Paul 586 295 0430 or write him at pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com. Share this blog with someone who cares about their money.

SECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH WESTMINSTER SECURITIES, INC. MEMBER FINRA/SIPC.