The older I get the more I understand how important it is to pay attention to my breath when I exercise. Of course we all have to breathe to stay alive, but how and when we take those breaths can really make a difference in the effectiveness of our workout. A good deep breath can optimize our oxygen intake, stabilize our core, improve posture, reduce stress, boost our performance and hasten our recovery. It’s the same for investing. The older we get, the more important a deep, cleansing breath is to our investment strategy. It can be tempting to react to alarming developments that show up in our newsfeeds. We want to jump in immediately to protect the funds we’ve worked so hard to accumulate. But, yanking resources from our retirement accounts out of fear or apprehension just locks in the losses we’re hoping to avoid. In those times, it’s good to take a deep breath. History has shown us how resilient the U.S. stock market has been through some monumental challenges. It has bounced back from wars, depressions, terrorist attacks and pandemics. Impulsive reactions to dramatic events almost always lead to trouble. The older you are, the less time your account has to recover before you need to start withdrawing from it. When current events trouble you, we recommend taking a deep breath and discussing your concerns with a trusted financial advisor, one who has committed to a fiduciary relationship with you. They can walk you through reasonable options to ease your concerns, show you historical data and explain what causes market volatility and the best ways to combat it. A 24-hour news cycle can be exhausting to follow, especially when so many sources bait clicks with alarming headlines and deceptive hashtags. Sometimes, the best response to all of that is to take a deep cleansing breath and scroll on.
An Earth Day reflection and an everyday celebration
After a challenging start to my day, I walked to work this morning. It isn’t a long walk, but it is a refreshing one. As I breathed in the fresh spring air, I exhaled a lot of the morning’s frustrations. It occurred to me that what we give to the earth, we get back exponentially. My decision to leave my car at home today gave me some time to reset my mood and stretch my legs. I arrived ready to go. What a gift to me and to my coworkers. The reciprocal nature of our relationship with the earth allows us both to grow. We sow a seed, and the earth gives us fruit. Win/win. We can celebrate that precious relationship so easily. Dispose of some litter and the path ahead becomes clearer for you and the world. Breathe in a little oxygen, gift the earth with your carbon dioxide. We hope you get to feel a little sunshine on your face today, and fresh air in your lungs. Happy Earth Day from all of us at Winch Financial. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION Please remember that past performance is no guarantee of future results. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Winch Advisory Services, LLC [“Winch”]), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, no portion of this discussion or information serves as the receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Winch. contained in this blog serves… | Read More »
Five financial tips for NFL draftees…and you!
The process has changed dramatically since NFL Hall of Famer Herb Adderley, a first-round pick, found out he had been drafted in 1961. The 21-year-old cornerback negotiated his contract alone and signed it on the hood of a car in an unfamiliar parking lot. “I was talking with (Packer assistant coach) Bill Austin and, when we agreed on a bonus, along with a one-year, no cut contract, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a blank contract, filled in the info, including my name and amount of money,” Adderley said in a 2018 interview. “I signed the contract on the hood of a car.” In the 64 years since Adderley signed that rookie contract, the NFL has grown exponentially, and the draft has become a three-day extravaganza. Next week, hordes of NFL fans will descend on Green Bay to witness the drama. It takes thousands of dollars and whole teams of people to prepare athletes for the draft these days. What hasn’t changed, though, and never will, is the steps those athletes need to take to protect themselves financially in an incredibly fleeting career. The following five tips apply to NFL superstars, and to anyone else hoping to make the money they earn during their working years last their whole lives. Create a budget. Track your spending, analyze it and make sure you understand exactly where your money goes each month. This is critical no matter what your income level is. Create an emergency fund and direct money into it. It’s also a good idea to set up separate accounts for living expenses, savings and investments. Maximize your contributions to a retirement account. This helps with taxes in the short-term, and expenses down the road. The interest you earn on that money compounds, so the earlier you start contributing to a retirement account, the faster that money will accrue. Understand how taxes will impact you currently and in retirement…. | Read More »
A friendly warning about really good deals
A friend of mine announced that she and her family were wrapping up the settlement of her uncle’s estate. A cheerful consumer, he had amassed an impressive collection of cars and recreational vehicles during his lifetime. The family wanted to sell as many of these items as they could before they put his house on the market, so they listed them on Facebook. I scrolled through and noticed some really good deals. I even mentioned them to my husband. Then, fortunately, our day got busy and we tabled any thoughts of participating in the fire sale. The post was a scam and my friend ended up locked out of her account, so she couldn’t even warn people not to participate. Had I expressed an interest in purchasing any of the items listed in the scam post, the next step would have been a conversation through Messenger, where I would have been asked to send the money. In this case, it was $5,000 and up. If you do that to a bad actor, you almost certainly will not get your money back. I’m fairly certain I would have figured it out pretty quickly. I have a strict policy of not sending any money through Facebook. For that reason I don’t participate in the platform’s birthday fundraisers or Marketplace. But, I can see how easily people get stung. You think you are dealing with a trusted friend, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of the great deals they offer? I write this as a cautionary tale. It’s really easy to become a victim of a scam and, often, really difficult to disentangle yourself and your finances. Be very cautious, especially if you’re encouraged to act quickly. Research the product, opportunity and seller and don’t use a method of payment that makes you uncomfortable. Trust your healthy skepticism. A deal that looks too good to be true generally is. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION Please… | Read More »
Internet safety tips for you
We’ve offered lots of tips on how to keep your device safe online: Take your time before you respond to an unsolicited request. Double check the email address or link before you click on anything. Do not email personal information, especially account details or Social Security information, to anyone. Today, in honor of Safer Internet Day, we offer you tips on how to keep yourself safe online. As convenient as our screens can be, they can also lure us in, stress us out and make us feel worse than we need to about the world. We can control our online experience, though. Here are seven ways to protect yourself. Set screen time limits. We do this for our children and we should do it for ourselves too. Set a timer or a specific schedule for yourself and stick to it. If you can, turn your phone off at night. Control your newsfeed. Unfollow accounts that promote negativity and aim to incite. You don’t have to expose yourself to content that upsets you. Join online groups that focus on supportive and uplifting topics. Turn off notifications. They distract you. You can check out content when it’s convenient for you. Schedule periodic no screentime days. They act like deep cleansing breaths and give you time to enjoy other things. Comparison is the thief of joy. Don’t judge yourself against someone else’s carefully crafted online presence. Check your sources! A tremendous amount of information is available to us with just one click. But it’s up to us to make sure we’re choosing legitimate sources for that information. It’s a good idea to check multiple sources before you accept a post as fact. Protect your privacy and be very mindful of what you post. Check your settings to make sure you understand who can see what you post. Do this for your social media sites and the digital photos you post. We hope these… | Read More »