What do the New Year’s Eve Ball and the stock market have in common? They both started the year dropping. The difference is one signals promise and hope for the New Year, and the other signals…well, we might not want to think about what it signals.
The stock market is down about 6% so far this year. That means if you had your $500,000 nest egg invested in the market, you would have lost $30,000 in less than 2 weeks.
And I’m guessing it took you a lot longer than 2 weeks to save that $30,000.
So let’s talk about New Year’s Resolutions. Do you know what the top New Year’s Resolution is for 2016? It’s “Enjoying life to the fullest.”[1]
That’s a great resolution. I believe for folks who are in or near retirement, a big part of being able to live life to the fullest is to help protect them from some of the financial risks they face.
…Like the risk of losing money, or the risk of running out of money, or the risk of losing your home due to nursing home costs.
Having a New Year’s Resolution can be a lot of fun, but as we all know, the hardest part is making it stick throughout the year.
How about making 2016 the year you kept your Resolution?
Let’s all enjoy life to the fullest!