Retirement Planning: Wants vs Needs

When it Comes to Retirement Planning, What’s the Difference Between Needs and Wants?

Retirement planning involves more than just saving money in a 401(k) or putting away cash in IRAs here and there. An investor has to consider many other factors: living expenses and cash flow needs throughout one’s lifetime (as well as spouse’s lifetime if applicable), health care spending and how that can change over time, Social Security timing decisions, estate planning, and tax strategies. It can be a lot of work.

When it comes to planning for living expenses and cash flow needs (spending), one beneficial exercise can be to categorize your assets/goals into “needs,” “wants,” and “legacy” items. The next step would be to think about how your retirement plan can be used to fund each category, starting with your ‘needs’ first.

Investment Psychology: Why You May Not Be Your Own Best Financial Planner

Dr. Meir Statman is a professor of finance (with a focus on behavioral finance) at Santa Clara University. You might say he is a foremost expert on how emotions can affect financial decision-making for managers and investors. His most recent book, “Finance for Normal People: How Investors and Markets Behave,” is pretty much a dead giveaway for where his life’s work is focused.

So, when Dr. Statman pens an article in the Wall St. Journal titled, “How Emotions Get in the Way of Smart Investing,” it is probably worth a close look. Indeed, the relationship between human emotions and investing is a complicated one – and it’s one that many experts would agree is at odds. Few would disagree with this general idea: investors who can remove emotion from the investing equation have a better chance of doing well over time versus those who cannot. As Warren Buffet succinctly puts it, “it’s an easy game if you can control your emotions.”

Chasing Heat? You May Get Burned.

The Information Technology sector has been on a roll so far in 2017. The returns for the sector year-to-date are nothing short of eye-opening: as of May 30, Information Technology has returned just over 20%, which puts it fairly far ahead of the next best performer, Consumer Discretionary (+11.52%). By comparison, the broad S&P 500 index is up a much lesser +7.7%, which while strong is still pretty modest compared to technology’s run.¹

This strong performance has some investors scrambling to beef-up their investment portfolio’s technology holdings, in an effort to ‘join the party’ so to speak. But investors should take pause before rushing to buy more technology stocks. Doing so would essentially mean “chasing heat,” which is just another version of market timing– a tactic that is not necessarily advisable for the long-term investor.

The attached report and information have been prepared or produced by WrapManager, Inc. from sources and data believed to be reliable. Information provided in this report is for educational and illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as individualized investment advice, as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security in any states where such an offer or solicitation would be prohibited by regulations. WrapManager, Inc. is not a tax advisory firm. We recommend you contact your tax attorney or CPA prior to utilizing any of the tax-related strategies mentioned or discussed. Returns and experiences will vary for each client. Each client's risk tolerance and investment objectives are unique to them. Past performance may not be indicative of future results. No assumption that future performance of any specific investment or product made reference to directly by WrapManager, Inc., on its Website and in marketing materials, will be profitable or equal the corresponding indicated performance level(s). WrapManager is an SEC-registered investment adviser.

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When it Comes to Retirement Planning, What’s the Difference Between Needs and Wants?

Investment Psychology: Why You May Not Be Your Own Best Financial Planner

Chasing Heat? You May Get Burned.

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