WealthTrace Financial Planning & Retirement Planning Blog
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by
Doug Carey, CFA
President
WealthTrace
We're conflicted about FIRE. On the one hand, frugality is an underappreciated and powerful thing. A movement that inspires people to save money, consume less, and lead a more conscious life--what could be bad about that? Getting off the hamster wheel and spending more time living? That sounds pretty good.
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by
Doug Carey, CFA
President
WealthTrace
Adjusted for inflation, the cost of going to college went up by about 350% from 1985 through 2010. The constant increasing costs of going to college became a major burden for both students and their parents. Many parents sacrificed an early retirement to help put their children through school and many students left college saddled with thousands of dollars in student loan debt.
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by
Doug Carey, CFA
President
WealthTrace
In August, Fidelity announced that it was launching a couple of index funds that would be free to invest in--that is, their expense ratios would be 0%. Between Fidelity Zero Total Market Index (FZROX) and Fidelity Zero International Index (FZILX) funds, you get globe-spanning passive equity investments with no fees attached.
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by
Doug Carey, CFA
President
WealthTrace
The recent tax law and changes to the tax code was pretty dramatic in terms of how it impacts most taxpayers. Not only did federal tax rates go down across the board, but the law regarding tax deductions changed a lot as well. Many people who used to itemize the taxes now will simply use the standard deduction of $12,000 per person, which is double what it used to be.
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by
Doug Carey, CFA
President
WealthTrace
This example shows just how important stock returns are to a retirement plan. The power of compounding cannot be underestimated when we are talking about long periods of time. On the flip side, one should not underestimate what a long period of stock market stagnation can do to a portfolio either.
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