Wealth Management Blog | WrapManager | Michael J. O'Connor (9)

Michael J. O'Connor

CWS®, Vice President Investments

401(k) Allocation Advice: Which Investments Should You Choose?

Posted by Michael J. O'Connor | CWS®, Vice President Investments

May 6, 2014

First and foremost – don’t pay extra for the advice! As part of a comprehensive investment plan, your financial advisor should provide guidance on your 401(k) asset allocation, and which investments you choose depends on how you’re allocated outside of your 401(k). You should receive a detailed analysis—and this advice—at no extra charge.

If you don’t have a financial advisor, have one look at your complete financial picture including your 401(k), and see what type of advice you get. Then, repeat this exercise with two or three different financial advisors and compare each, to see which one offers the most compelling and thoughtful advice. That might be the financial advisor worth hiring.

In the meantime, here are 4 sound tips for setting up your 401(k) asset allocation

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Investment Planning 401(k) Rollover

Five Questions to Ask When Setting Up Your IRA Beneficiaries

April 30, 2014

One of the great things about setting up beneficiaries on your retirement and other investment accounts is that you can set them up virtually any way you want. You can relinquish complete control of your assets, or you can set up systems to maintain some control over how the assets are distributed. The choice is yours. When deciding how to assign beneficiaries on your retirement and other investment accounts (including your IRA beneficiaries), there are a few important considerations. Here are five questions to discuss with your financial advisor when discussing setting up your beneficiaries. [+] Read More

Planning for Retirement: 3 Steps to Help You Get Started

November 13, 2013

If you’ve recently retired or are about to, congratulations! It’s probably been a long road, and your next step is to make sure that path continues during retirement. This means it’s time to speak with your financial advisor to create, or update, a comprehensive investment plan. Here’s a brief “how to prepare for retirement” guide to help you get started. [+] Read More

3 Advantages of Hiring Money Managers versus Self-Managing

November 11, 2013

Many investors are tempted to manage their own investment accounts. Some have a great deal of interest in the stock and bond markets and enjoy the challenge. Others may want to just save money in fees. In either case, an investor shoulders the critical responsibilities of making sure their investments perform well and meet their needs for the long-term. This is a challenging task. Before deciding to self-manage, we’d consider these three benefits to hiring money managers to do it for you. Save Time and Reduce Stress Retirement should be about enjoying the fruits of your labor and reaching your lifelong goals. Self-managing investments may become a hindrance to achieving this, because the amount of time, research, and the frequency with which someone needs to make critical decisions is great. Hiring money managers places these responsibilities on someone else. [+] Read More

Year-End Investment Planning Checklist for 2013

November 6, 2013

2013 is shaping up to be a strong overall year for the equity markets, and has hopefully been a positive year for many readers’ investment plans as well. As the year draws to a close, it’s time to review a few year-end planning strategies and tips. This should serve as a basic guide to investors to review their tax situations and investment plans before year end. Our suggestions may not apply to all investors, so it’s important to consult a financial advisor and/or tax advisor before considering any adjustments. Tax Planning Strategies to Consider Offset Capital Gains Using a Tax-Loss Selling Strategy Investors are able to offset capital gains with capital losses. If capital losses exceed capital gains in 2013, the excess can be used to reduce taxable income, such as wages, up to an annual limit of $3,000 ($1,500 if married but filing separately). If the total net capital loss is more than the yearly limit ($3,000), taxpayers can carry over the unused portion to the next year.1 [+] Read More

Is the Market Heading Toward Another Bubble? - Churchill Management

November 6, 2013

Churchill Management Group's November commentary looks back at past market bubbles and compares them to the current market environment. "Generally after a bubble has occurred, it takes many decades for human behavior to rise up to another extreme. Amazingly, thanks to the investing public jumping back into the market, it seems possible that the NASDAQ is starting to look a little bubble-like barely a decade after its last Bubble peaked. We are calling this a “DOUBLE BUBBLE”." Download Churchill's Full Commentary Here Get Free Research Reports on Churchill Management [+] Read More

Potential Impact of a Government Shutdown on Your Portfolio Strategy

November 2, 2013

Many investors are wondering how a government shutdown could affect the stock market and their portfolio strategy. History suggests that past government shutdowns have had little effect on the market, though in 2011 the threat of a government shutdown corresponded with a stock market correction. In any case, investors should consult with their financial advisor to ensure their portfolio is properly diversified according to their financial plan. How Has the Stock Market Reacted to Past Government Shutdowns? The last two government shutdowns occurred fairly closely to one another - one lasted from November 13 - November 19, 1995, and the next one spanned from December 5, 1995 - January 6, 1996.1 The S&P 500 exhibited a bit of choppiness in that general time frame, but the general trajectory of the bull market was unaffected: Figure 1: S&P 500 from January 1, 1995 – December 31, 2006 (click chart for larger version) Source: St. Louis Federal Reserve [+] Read More

'Wait and See' Issues Holding Back Global Growth - Calamos Investments

October 14, 2013

Money manager Calamos Investments' latest investment commentary focuses on their cautiously optimistic global outlook and why they believe the US equity market has more room to expand. "As we write this, markets are facing a number of issues that fall into the “wait-and-see” category - from the government shutdown and debt-ceiling negotiations in the U.S., to next steps for the euro zone and third-arrow reforms in Japan. These uncertainties are largely political in nature, and we expect them to foment considerable market volatility. However we believe that the global economy has healed considerably since the 2008 financial crisis, and the twin pillars of accommodative monetary policy and stimulative fiscal policy can allow global growth to continue in the 2% to 3% range." Download the Full Calamos Commentary Here Get Free Research Reports on Calamos Investments [+] Read More

3 Benefits to Consolidating Your Investment Accounts

October 8, 2013

There are several benefits to consolidating your investment accounts in one place. For some investors, however, this may not be possible for a variety of reasons. One option is to have a financial advisor build a comprehensive plan that includes all of your investment accounts. This can provide many of the benefits of consolidating your investment accounts. Benefit # 1: Help Ensure Your Portfolio is Properly Diversified By combining your investment accounts in one place, you’ll potentially be able to understand what your overall investments look like, and as a result, be better able to make decisions regarding your asset allocation, risk level and more. When you have investment accounts in multiple places - an IRA at Schwab, a Trust at Fidelity, a 529 plan at TD Ameritrade, for instance - you can easily lose track of your overall asset allocation. Many investors often have investment strategies in multiple accounts that overlap, resulting in an improperly diversified portfolio and inappropriate risk levels. [+] Read More

Talking With Your Financial Advisor About a Fixed Income Strategy

October 6, 2013

If you’ve been tracking your fixed income performance this year, you’re probably wondering what’s going on. Depending on your goals, a fixed income allocation should generate income, help preserve your principal, hopefully provide stability during more volatile times or provide a combination of all three. Recently, these benefits have been challenged by the exceptional volatility and trend in interest rates, which has resulted in less than desirable performance for many fixed income portfolios. Take this as an opportunity to have a financial advisor evaluate or re-evaluate your fixed income portfolio to help you ensure that it’s properly diversified and working for you and your goals. [+] Read More