Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

The College Saving Dilemma

April 2, 2020

Every parent wants what’s best for their kids, so it’s natural for them to feel the need to help them wherever they can. As a result, many new parents begin to save for their child’s college education immediately, guessing (perhaps correctly) that tuition costs 18 years from now will have risen almost unimaginably high. And that may be a very good idea. What’s not a good idea, though, is to take the money you were saving for your own retirement and redirect it to a college savings account for your children. Shortchanging your retirement savings, especially in the earlier stages of your working life, can ultimately cause much bigger problems for you down the line.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

A Bear Market: Why We Don’t Panic, and Neither Should You

March 25, 2020

The equity markets have been on a wild ride these past couple of weeks, to say the least. One would think it’s almost become a “new normal” to see swings of at least 5% to either the up or the down side on a daily basis. While that’s not quite true, it is indeed true that we’re living in volatile times, with no way to even remotely ascertain what’s to come next.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

This Is Why We Strategize!

March 13, 2020

When markets are good, when equity values are rising, it can be difficult to be the lone voice that sets out to remind people that the good times don’t last forever. It’s a tough sell. But as we’ve seen over just the past several days, things can turn around, and turn around quickly. We can’t predict when, why or how – we only know they will. Absent a fully-functioning crystal ball, the only thing we really can do is to be ready when it hits. This is why we say that having a strategy is absolutely crucial. Buildings have fire exits, homes have storm cellars, and prudent investors have a plan. And while no plan or strategy is completely infallible, it’s a good bet that those who strategize for the bad times may be better prepared when they occur. True, the up-markets don’t last forever, but then again, neither do the down-markets. Lucia Capital Group Chairman and CEO Ray Lucia Jr. offers some words of encouragement in this Bonus Edition of Lucia Capital Group Weekly.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Is It Time to Restructure Your 401(k)?

March 5, 2020

One of the nice things about a 401(k) plan is that it’s automatic. You set it up, create your allocation, decide what percentage of your income will go in each pay period, and just let it happen from there. Many people don’t give it much thought after that. And that may be fine, if you’ve still got 10 years or more until retirement. But as the date gets closer to when you’ll actually need to access that 401(k) money, the set-it-and-forget-it approach often becomes less beneficial. You begin to subject yourself to market risks if you don’t change your allocation to include some less-volatile assets. Many people recognize this, and actually do make changes to their 401(k) allocation. But there’s another step that you may be missing — a crucial step that you need to consider, well before you retire.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

The 4 Steps of Retirement Income

February 27, 2020

Financial planning is our business; it’s what we do every single day. And since no two people have the exact same goals, risk tolerances, investments, and income needs, every single plan we put together is different. Much of the planning process boils down to this: How do we create enough retirement income for you to live the way you want to live, without having to worry about how long your money will last? Some people have all the income they’ll ever need, and more. Others require some extra careful planning to meet their goals. But while the details of each plan may be vastly different, there are some common basic steps that we use to formulate each one.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

3 Questions Every Confident Investor Should Ask

February 21, 2020

The current bull market for stocks began on March 9, 2009. But the belief among some investors at that time was that stocks still had farther to fall, and the worst was still to come. They were wrong. Now, nearly 11 years later, we still have not seen another bear market in the S&P 500. This situation has created in the minds of some investors that stocks will continue to climb forever – a mistaken idea that could have dangerous consequences. When markets are flying high (or, conversely, when they’re sinking into oblivion), it can create a recency-bias mentality that may cause you to stray from your stated investing objectives. You may be tempted to make a risky move in response that you’ll later wish you hadn’t: a move that may be irreversible. Before you make a move like that, either out of fear or elation, you should ask yourself three important questions.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Can You Control the Uncontrollable and Forget the Rest?

February 13, 2020

In last week’s video, we explained why it’s often better to manage the amount of risk you take in your portfolio, rather than trying to achieve a high rate of return.  We showed how two sets of hypothetical portfolios, both with the exact same investments over a 10-year period of time, could have entirely different outcomes — simply by changing the date that a retiree began taking withdrawals. In this week’s edition of Lucia Capital Group Weekly, our “Professor” Rick Plum takes that same hypothetical scenario and expands the time horizon by another ten years.  How did these two (imaginary) identical portfolios fare after a 20-year time horizon? You may be surprised.  

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Manage Risk, Not Return

February 6, 2020

When it comes to investing, people often make the mistake of focusing on the wrong goal. Certainly, most everyone would like to see a good rate of return on their investments, and it’s nice when that happens, but trying to manage your way into achieving a high rate of return is almost always a fool’s game. Day trading, chasing yield, acting on short-term market predictions, and other gambits are not only time-consuming, but also time wasting. There is simply too much that is out of your control. A better way to go may be to focus instead on what is actually manageable: the amount of risk you take. While lower risk usually offers lower rewards, it may also potentially protect your portfolio from loss. This may be especially true over longer periods of time — and when it comes to stock (equity) investments, a long time horizon is essential.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Two Roth Rules You Need to Know

January 30, 2020

Roth IRAs have been around for more than two decades, and their tax-free withdrawal potential is an important retirement planning asset for many people. But violating the rules of the Roth can easily create a taxable event for you — thus defeating the purpose of having a Roth in the first place. That’s why it’s a good idea to understand how they work. Two important rules that people tend to overlook have to do with what we call the “five-year clock.” Earnings within a Roth IRA sometimes have to wait out this clock before they’re eligible for tax-free (or penalty-free) status. It often depends on how the money got into your Roth in the first place.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

A Strategy That May Save You Thousands in Taxes This Year

January 23, 2020

Of all of the bills you pay in your life, your tax bill has to be one of the hardest. Unlike with your credit card bill, or your electric or water bill, you get virtually nothing in exchange for shelling out your tax money. So it stands to reason that you’d like to pay only the absolute minimum amount in taxes over the course of your lifetime, if at all possible. At Lucia Capital Group, we love a good strategy – especially a tax strategy. If you’re in a somewhat high tax bracket, and you want to make a gift to someone in a lower bracket – like maybe your kids – you may be able to do it in a way that benefits both the recipient and yourself.

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Why Tax Knowledge Is Power

January 16, 2020

You’ve probably heard the phrase “knowledge is power” many times in your life. It’s one of the few near-clichés that’s actually packed with truth. The more you know, the more power you have – either literally or figuratively. The phrase fits especially well when it comes to taxes. Many people find the very concept of taxation, or at least anything beyond the most basic elements of it, to be out of their realm of understanding. And it IS complicated. But sometimes all it takes is a little specialized knowledge in a few key areas for you to put yourself, potentially, in a much better financial situation, both now and in the future. So what is this tax knowledge? What do you need to know that could maybe save you from greatly overpaying your tax bill?

Lucia Capital Group Weekly

Three Smart Money Moves to Make in January

January 9, 2020

The 2020’s have begun, and you may have some wonderful new opportunities for financial planning! While some may tell you it’s never too late to get started, when it comes to money in general, and taxes in particular, waiting to take action may be the worst thing you can do. So now that the yearly calendar has reset, it’s time to think about a few things that you might do to potentially make this year a little more financially rewarding, and maybe a little less taxing as well. January can be a particularly good time, because by planning now, you still have (almost) the entire year to make any necessary course corrections along the way. If you wait to get started, your window of opportunity becomes much smaller. With that in mind, “Professor” Rick Plum is here to give you three smart money moves you should consider making in January.