The latest weekly issue of the Retirement Income Journal is now available, and this week's issue is especially interesting:
The cover story asks the intriguing question, Black Swan or Black Turkey? We've all heard about black swans, those improbable catastrophes that defy prediction. But we've had no shortage of black turkeys — events that are entirely consistent with past data but that no one thought would happen. The financial crisis was but one of nearly a dozen such episodes over that past century.
Next up The Joy of Illiquidity takes an unintuitive look at the benefits of investing in illiquid assets. This article reports on the a presentation by legendary financial wizard Robert Ibbotson suggesting the idea that illiquidity, either in stocks or in bonds, should be viewed as an investment style distinct from capitalization, value/growth, maturity or credit risk. This article includes the first reference I've seen to the illiquidity discount and the liquidity premium.
My favorite article in this week's issue has a reassuring title: If You're Human, You Have Capital. In contrast to financial capital, human capital consists of "the present value of future earnings, the present value of future savings, and even the present value of Social Security and anticipated pensions." Your human capital changes over time, and it should definitely be a factor in your investment strategy.
Let's face it. The vast majority of financial websites focus on growing your nest egg, improving your investment skills, and increasing your wealth. In a word: accumulation. But the household financial life cycle is divided into two parts: accumulation and decumulation. With the demographic tidal wave of aging boomers nearing their golden years, the Retirement Income Journal is a resource worth investigating for dshort.com regulars who are professionals in financial planning.
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