Retirement Insights

How Much Will I Spend in Retirement?

By McLean Asset Management

Most people are focused on saving for retirement so they’ll have the money they need to fund their income in retirement. However, ask most people how much they’re going to spend in retirement, and they have no idea. To plan for retirement effectively, you need to have some sense of what your spending needs are…

Read More

Taking Portfolio Spending Into the Real World for Retirees

By Wade Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, RICP®

In February of 1998, the Trinity study established the idea of focusing on success and failure rates, building into our psyche the idea that your retirement is a failure if the investment portfolio is depleted. This has put too much emphasis on the portfolio and spending conservatively to keep failure rates low. This is not…

Read More

The Dangers of Putting Our Faith in Statistics

By Bob French, CFA

Most people try to avoid thinking about statistics, but they’re part of everything we do in investing. When other people get around to thinking about statistics, they often end up thinking about them the wrong way. Statistics is about trying to figure out the unknown based on what we have seen in the past. It’s…

Read More

Review:  Are thematic ETFs gimmicks or smart strategic plays?

By McLean Asset Management

Investment companies are incredibly creative, especially when it comes to new ways to make money. There’s always some new investment trend, and investment companies are more than happy to oblige. They don’t really care if something is a particularly good idea – they just want to help you, the investor. And obviously they should be compensated…

Read More

Review: Which of these 6 paths will you take in retirement?

By McLean Asset Management

As this article makes clear, everyone wants something different out of retirement. Figuring out exactly what you want can be incredibly difficult, but it’s one of the most important things you can do when preparing for retirement. Your retirement income plan should be built around providing you the income to do what you want in…

Read More

Which Makes More Sense for Retirees: A Total-Return or Income Portfolio?

By Wade Pfau, Ph.D., CFA, RICP®

Total-return investing focuses on building diversified portfolios from stocks and bonds to seek greater long-term investment growth. By focusing on total return, the objective over the long run is to produce a greater and steadier amount of income relative to what could be obtained by investing for income by focusing solely on interest and dividends to…

Read More

Occam’s Razor: One of the Most Successful Active Managers of All Time Shows Why Active Management Doesn’t Work

By Bob French, CFA

WHAT IS OCCAM’S RAZOR? Occam’s Razor is a principle attributed to William Occam, a 14th century philosopher. He stressed that explanations must not be multiplied beyond what is necessary. Thus, Occam’s Razor is a term used to “shave off” or dismiss superfluous explanations for a given event. This concept is largely ignored within the investment management landscape. This newsletter…

Read More

2017 – Q1 Quarterly Market Review

By McLean Asset Management

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the last quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the performance of globally diversified portfolios and features a topic of the quarter.…

Read More

Indexes 101, Part 3: The Birth and Evolution of Index Investing

By McLean Asset Management

  According to legend, a pharmacist by the name of John Pemberton was looking for a cure for the headache when he first tried blending Coca leaves with Cola nuts. Pemberton couldn’t have known this recipe would eventually reach the heights of fame, even though Coca-Cola® never ended up achieving his original goal. This story…

Read More

Blog posts linked on this page are intended for convenience, educational, and informational purposes only. All expressions of opinion reflect the judgment of the authors as of the date of publication and are subject to change. The adviser does not endeavor to update or remove blog posts and articles after initial publication. No linked content should be construed as individualized advice or recommendations, and the discussions contained are not a substitute for investment advice from a professional adviser. This commentary should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed.