Weekly Notes
September 4 — Sequence of Return Risk: Why Order Matters More Than Averages: The order of gains and losses doesn’t matter while you’re saving, but it can make or break a portfolio once withdrawals begin, which is why an emergency reserve and a flexible spending plan are worth having.
September 11 — Nobody Knows Anything: Starting from a scary AI headline, the note shows how often experts have missed the mark, from Hollywood to McKinsey to the Fed, and why investors should plan around uncertainty rather than predictions.
September 18 — Confident, Divided, and Probably Wrong: Drawing on our client seminar, the piece uses a costly election bet and a record partisan gap in consumer confidence to show that neither predictions nor feelings tell us what markets will do next.
September 25 — Tax-Free Munis: A Great Deal for Some, Not Right for Others: Using tax-equivalent yield, the note explains why municipal bonds look especially attractive in the top bracket and why investors in lower brackets need to run the numbers first.
Media Contributions
September 13 — Retirees spent their lives saving. Now they’re afraid to spend (USA TODAY): Jonathan Swanburg, CFP®, explains why retirees used to spending a paycheck find it stressful to spend their savings, and why a big expense like a costly trip can feel harder to justify once that paycheck is gone.
Idea Worth Repeating
“Neither your predictions nor your feelings tell you anything about what the markets will do next.” – Jonathan Swanburg, Confident, Divided, and Probably Wrong
Seminar Recap
On September 17, we hosted a client seminar at our office with three parts: a market recap, a look at why humans are wired to be terrible investors, and a discussion of how politics, including the upcoming midterms, can affect our decision-making. If you couldn’t make it, you can view the full slides here.
I appreciate the recap & slides as I was unable to attend the meeting.
Thank You