March 07, 2009
In the world today, a majority of people may be worried about how the stock market will limit their ability to retire, but in reality it may be the debt load they carry that proves to be an even larger hindrance. It’s a fact that Debt will seriously affect how much money you will ultimately need to cover your expenses in retirement. The more debt owed, the more money you will need in pension, savings and or Mutual Fund Investment to cover those payments plus living expenses.
If the above is an issue, and you ARE concerned about how your debts will adversely affect your retirement plans, you are faced with two options. You can adjust your spending today, and redirect more of your cash flow toward retiring your debts, or simply plan on retiring later than anticipated.
Make a decision today and set a realistic goal to be debt free prior to retirement, establishing a specific date to pay off each debt one by one. If you want to retire in ten years, (your might call it crunch time) adjust your payment schedules so that your mortgage, line of credit, car loans and especially your credit cards are paid off before those ten years are up. You can easily arrange to pay off the mortgage earlier by making extra payments during the year. It probably isn’t advisable to plan on making lump sum payments as they just don’t seem to get done. Adjusting your monthly mortgage payment schedule starting NOW, is probably the smarter and easiest way to go.
Establishing an attainable debt repayment schedule requires you to think more realistically about your retirement needs and then make plans accordingly. You certainly will be faced with some difficult decisions today, but by taking positive steps now you will definitely be more in control, confident and financially secure when the big day arrives.
| Weekly Market Wrap Up |
| MARKETS | This Week | 1 Week Ago | 1 Month Ago |
| Dow Jones | 6626.94 | 7062.93 | 8280 |
| TSX | 7591.47 | 8123.02 | 9008 |
| Nasdaq | 1293.85 | 1377.84 | 1590 |
| Venture | 829.12 | 925.64 | |
| S&P | 683.38 | 735.09 | 872 |
| METALS | This Week | 1 Week Ago | 1 Month Ago |
| Gold | $942.70 | $941.50 | $914.30 |
| Silver | $13.33 | $13.09 | $13.16 |
| Platinum | $1078.70 | $1085.30 | $989.00 |
| Palladium | $203.65 | $195.70 | $213.35 |
| Oil & Gas | This Week | 1 Week Ago | 1 Month Ago |
| Oil | $45.52 | $44.76 | $40.17 |
| Nat Gas | $3.95 | $4.20 | $4.77 |
Best Performance Mutual Funds:
1 month: Alternative Energy Funds.
3 month: Precious Metals Equity Funds.
Worst Performance Mutual Funds:
1 Month: Financial Services Equity Funds.
1 Month: Real Estate Equity Funds.
3 Month: Financial Services Equity Funds.
Personal Portfolio Holdings:
50% Creststreet Alternative Energy Fund. (chart)
25% Dynamic Precious Metals Fund. (chart)
25% Money Market and Cash.
.Updates will be posted.
Both investment fund groups look very good at this point and in the foreseeable future. Patiently waiting for other sectors of the market to turn positive, whether in North America, China, India or Latin America. Remember, now matter how bad the international and global markets are, there will always be sectors and Mutual Funds that will do well.
Hope you enjoy the information posted on this site and use it to your financial benefit. Feel free to compare my personal mutual fund charts against the performance and returns in your portfolio.
Doug T………..The fund guy
