Our Retirement Blog

Historical Perspective May Help

Greeting. I hope that this finds you well and adapting and adjusting as best you can. I don’t think anyone can deny that we’re living in a challenging time. Lot’s of forces and influences making life more demanding, more stressful and unless we are careful, less satisfying. I saw the… ...

Let’s Get Back to Business

I hope this finds you well and enjoying life. You should be proud of yourself when you have all of your estate planning components in place. In Louisiana, the four basic components are a will, power of attorney, medical power of attorney and a living will. Proper estate planning puts… ...

Avoid News / Have Purpose / Be Happy

I trust that this will find you well and enjoying life. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m more than prone to give advice and that’s no secret if you’re a client of Armor Financial. I’m not going to mince for words either and my advice for you is… ...

Where Are You In All This??

Some time ago I began to ponder and suspect that sooner or later in life, at one time or another we all experience some form of natural disaster. It may not be experienced directly by us, it may be indirectly as through someone close to us, important to us and… ...

There’s Always Opportunity To Save Money on Taxes

I trust that this will find you well in every way. In retirement finances, there are forces that we can’t avoid like the cycles and volatility of asset classes, the management of a company we are investing in, or decisions made by the FED. However, there is a definite force… ...

The System is Still Solid

Greetings! I trust that this finds you well in every way. Week before last we had recovered all losses on the S&P 500 caused by the virus. In one day alone last week, the market gave back 5.9% of it. On February 19th the S&P reached an all-time high of… ...

Still The Greatest Place in The World

Greetings! I trust that this will find you well in every way. I don’t know how you see it but to me, we’ve been through one of the most uncertain ninety-day periods in the history of America. Health upheaval, financial upheaval, social upheaval, recreational upheaval, employment upheaval, government upheaval, foreign… ...

Hurry Up And Wait

Greetings! I trust that this will find you well in every way. Do you remember the old saying hurry up and wait? That’s what this challenge with the coronavirus makes me feel like just now, hurry up and wait. There’s just so much I want to get done, so much… ...

Look Mom No Hands!

Greetings! I hope this finds you well in every way. The pandemic has certainly altered time as we knew it, because there simply are a lot less things to occupy, entertain and consume us. You could say it’s a reduction in distractions, and because of it we have the opportunity… ...

Just Let It Whirl

Greetings! I hope this finds you well in every way. As of April 30th the U.S. has recorded over 1 million documented cases of COVID-19 with nearly 62,000 recorded deaths. There are over 26.5 million Americans out of work and who have applied or are applying for unemployment benefits.  The U.S.… ...

Is The Bear Market Over?

Greetings! I trust that this will find you well and staying strong. It’s possible, but it’s probably wise to not count on it. We’ve seen a remarkably quick and dramatic plunge and subsequent recovery in recent weeks. This consisted of the S&P 500 falling -34% from its peak on Feb.… ...

Happy Easter!

Greetings! I trust that this finds you well and doing what you need to do to take care of yourself. Some of you may not be aware that a little known provision in the economic relief act had to do with RMD’s or required minimum distributions. Under current law at… ...

A Little Humor Never Hurts

Greetings! I trust that this will find you well and staying strong. I like you am confronted with a major dose of change and I must admit it’s taken me a little while to come around. Words and realities that are prominent right now for me are adjust, adapt and… ...

It Worked For Sheba

Greetings! I hope this finds you well in every way. Well, here we are a bit over a month in this new place in the market cycle. The Dow Industrials fell into a bear market on March 11 – defined as a decline of at least 20% – in 19… ...

Stay Calm and Seek Opportunity

Greetings! I hope that this finds you well and enjoying life! There’s no denying it, no way around it we’re in a period of heightened uncertainty. THE virus has us all on alert regarding health or finances. Smart thing to do now is to just slow down and adapt our… ...

This Market Volatility Isn’t Just From Corona Virus

Greetings! I hope this finds you well in every way. As if markets hadn’t produced enough volatility already in recent weeks, this morning’s initial drop of -7% triggered stock exchange circuit breakers—a computer system intended to temporarily stop trading activity, with the purpose of stopping a free fall in prices… ...

Don’t Fail To Read This Update

Greetings! I hope this finds you well in every way. I know that we are all highly tuned into the evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) and let’s face it, fears over unpredictable rates of contagion and the impact on world-wide economic growth will continue to affect the market adversely until containment is… ...

Trimming Your Tax Bill In Retirement

Greetings! I hope that this finds you well and enjoying life. A tax dollar not paid is a dollar in your pocket. Here are some tips that may assist you in trimming your tax bill in retirement. Give yourself options with the types of investment retirement accounts you own. Having… ...

Taxation of Investments

Greetings! I trust that this will find you well and enjoying life. It’s that time of the year again and I’m not talking Mardi Gras, I’m talking tax time. On any investment that is positioned outside of a tax shelter like an IRA or annuity, you’re going to pay taxes… ...

It’s Complicated Money and Happiness

I trust that this will find you well and enjoying life. It’s complicated money and happiness. Does more wealth lead to happiness? Researchers have tackled this question for decades, and although the results have differed, one fact is certain: The relationship between money and happiness –or “well-being,” as many researchers… ...