Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

Investing

Is Your Portfolio Balanced Like a Harley?

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With over 100,000 miles of Harley touring behind me, I can assure you of the value of a smooth ride. No one enjoys being jolted and jarred, not on the road or in securities markets. When markets become volatile, every investor is looking for smoother performance. In August 2013 I explained that the key to […]

Will You Outlive Your Money? FIRE! (Part IV)

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In parts, I, II, and III you learned about those who have embraced the FIRE lifestyle—Financial Independence, Retire Early—and the ways it can help you in your own life. One of the things I think you and I will learn from this movement is if it’s truly feasible to live off a portfolio for 60-plus […]

The Butterfly Effect and Chaotic Markets

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Securities markets endure any number of threats each day. Sometimes news that appears dire isn’t necessarily so. Other times, the market overlooks the little signals that portend a rout. After the 2005 revaluation of the yuan by China, I discussed how such seemingly small developments could create major change via the “butterfly effect.” I wrote […]

“Dad, You’re Stressing Me Out” FIRE! (Part II)

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Living a lifestyle where you spend 50% less than your “normal” spending doesn’t sound like much fun. But that’s exactly what many members of the FIRE movement are doing. FIRE standing for Financial Independence, Retire Early. I’ve been studying this movement big-time, because there’s a lot for you and me to learn by understanding what […]

Living Your Best Life: FIRE! (Part I)

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Are you familiar with the FIRE movement? You should be, and you will be shortly. And I’m not talking about a fire where, for example, a tree falls in your backyard onto power lines, ripping them down along with a transformer and nearly burning down your house on a quiet afternoon in Newport, RI. (You […]

Are You Setting Yourself Up for a Retirement Disaster?

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In 1999, most equity investors thought they couldn’t go wrong. Anything they bought simply gained in value. Easy, right? Not so fast. Soon, many Americans were facing a retirement disaster of their own creation. In July of 2004 I wrote: You’ve Lost 37%… Treasuries are boring! Right? You may be in the boring, boring camp, […]

Three Dangerous Traps Investors Face

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There’s a lot you can’t control when you’re investing. Putting your money in securities necessitates some risk taking. You probably aren’t managing the companies you own, or the governments you lend to yourself, so you have to trust managers and politicians to do that. And you’ll never direct consumers and taxpayers, so revenue streams are […]

Best June in 80 Years for the Dow?

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President Trump has given American business owners and IRA participants the best economy they have seen in some time. Any of Trump’s progressive-socialist opponents in the Democrat primary would absolutely kill the jobs market, business environment and retirement savings structure, negatively affecting every single American. There would be no winners with the progressive socialists in […]

You Have Two Jobs to Do in Record Breaking Markets

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The S&P 500 500 index closed at a record high yesterday, and could do so again today. Back in June of 2004 I was telling readers about how to position their portfolios when stock prices rise well above trend. I told them then that they had two jobs in preparing for such lofty stock prices. […]