Expert Voices

Paul B. Brown

Money, Finance

Paul B. Brown is Third Age's personal finance expert. A former editor and writer for Business Week, Financial World, Forbes and Inc. Paul is the author (or co-author) of numerous best-sellers, including Grow Rich Slowly: The Merrill Lynch Guide to Retirement Planning and hosted a nationally syndicated personal finance radio show that was heard on 168 stations nationwide. Paul is a regular contributor to the New York Times where he created the What's Offline column for paper and still does the Off-the-Shelf column for the paper and writes Tool Kit for NewYorkTimes.com.

Money, Finance

A Bad Idea—Understandably though it may be

Posted November 20, 2008 6:58 PM

Bank of America is currently running ads that on the surface sound appealing.

They are offering to let you put your retirement savings in things that are guaranteed.

Given the recently performance in the market, who wouldn’t want that?

The answer should be: You.

Guaranteed investments are the not the way to go, if you are saving for a long-time goal (like retirement.)

The returns on such things as money market funds, and certificates of deposits, even if they are guaranteed may not be enough to keep up with inflation, let alone produce the long-term growth that you need.

Appreciate the ads for what they are—a clever way of trying to increase the amount of money invested in Bank of America—and keep investing for retirement the way you have. Read more…

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Life Is Unfair. Deal With It.

Posted November 20, 2008 5:44 PM

Over the weekend, friends were complaining about the fact that the worth of their retirement accounts have plummeted this year.

I told them the following:

In a perfect world, the value of our retirement savings would climb every single year from the time we put the money in, until we decided to finally use the funds to pay for the retirement of our dreams. We would never suffer a financial crisis caused by divorce or illness. And we never find ourselves suddenly unemployed or the victim of the plummeting stock market like the one we experienced in 2008. Read more…

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It doesn’t make me feel any better, but I discovered the other day that the $8,000 I owe in total on three different credit cards puts me in good company -- I am the typical American. Any thoughts about how to reduce my debt?

Bill, White Plains, N.Y.

When you find yourself in a hole, the first rule is this: Stop digging. And you can do that in four maybe-not-so-easy-but-absolutely-necessary ... Read More...

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Bad News Bargains

Posted November 14, 2008 7:02 AM

I know this could sound callous, and I don't mean it to, but all the bad economic news has created bargains everywhere you look. Stocks (of good companies) are cheap. Banks are offering suprising high rates on CDs and retailers are offering incredible inducements. I am down in Florida as you read, and restaurants are offering meals for 50% less than the last time I visited a couple of months ago.

The takeaway message: If you husband your money in good times there will be wonderful opporutnies when things turn bad (as they invariably do.) Read more…

A Definition of Insanity

Posted November 07, 2008 7:06 AM

The Dow industrials declined nearly five percent on Friday. Blue chips have lost 929 points--or 9.7 percent--in two sessions. That's the biggest two day drop since the crash in October 1987, and according to the Wall Street Journal the largest two-day point loss ever.

The reason for the decline? The market is getting continuing confirmation of all the bad news it was expecting. Yesterday's bad news: Slower retail sales as consumers cut back.
The market reaction makes no sense to me. The market fell off a cliff last month, on the expectation of bad news. Now, it falls even further, when it gets the news it was expecting.

Sigh.

The only thing to do is hold on until the so-called investment professionals come to their senses. Read more…

Vote

Posted November 04, 2008 8:58 AM

The cliche "if you didn't vote, you can't complain" isn't completely right. This is America. You can complain about just about anything at any time.

But you will have a whole lot more credibility, if you voted.

Please do. Read more…

See Also: estate planning, investing, taxes, vote, voting

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Why Would You Say That?

Posted October 31, 2008 5:26 AM

American Express has announced that it is going to tighten its belt, in light of the economic downturn.

Cardholders aren't spending as much, and so the firm is going to lay off people, the announcement read. I understood that part.

They also said they are cutting back on corporate travel and entertainment.

Even if that is true, if a huge part of your business is based on getting your customers to travel and enterain, why would you tell the world that YOU are against the things that make up the core of your business? Read more…