FYI: I will link show, early Saturday morning, when it becomes available for free.
Regards,
Ted
August 6, 2015
Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,
China has been on my mind of late. The world’s second largest economy has gone from investment darling to pariah in just a few short weeks. Where Chinese economic statistics used to be given the benefit of the doubt, they are now widely disbelieved by many professional investors.
We have a special online report this week, a China update from Andy Rothman. Rothman is a seasoned China hand, having lived there for nearly 20 years as a diplomat and economist, before returning to the U.S. last year to take on the Investment Strategist role at Asia mutual funds pioneer, Matthews Asia.
Rothman, a past WEALTHTRACK guest, shares his most recent thoughts on the bearishness surrounding China. You’ll find his report on wealthtrack.com, available to our PREMIUM viewers tonight and everyone else over the weekend.
As it’s the first weekend of Public Television’s summer fund-raising drive, we are revisiting a popular topic – retirement! How prepared are you, or your loved ones and friends for retirement? We have all heard about the impending retirement crisis. How critical is the health of Americans approaching retirement, or now in it? Headlines to the contrary, some recent research suggests the dire warnings are overstated for the general population, but there are some segments in serious trouble.
Not surprisingly, the biggest differentiator between the haves and have-nots is work history. 73% of people without access to employer-sponsored retirement plans have less than $1,000 in savings and investments. A sporadic work history also means lower Social Security benefits, or none at all for those with less than 10 years of employment experience.
Lower income Americans who have been working steadily typically can maintain their standard of living because of Social Security and Medicare. For middle to upper income Americans, who have a higher standard of living that is not always a realistic goal. A rule of thumb has been that retirees should aim to replace 75% of their average annual pre-retirement income. Many of them are living on less.
T. Rowe Price surveyed recent retirees with 401ks and median household assets of close to $500,000. The average couple in that group was living on 66% of their pre-retirement income. 85% said they didn’t need to spend as much as they did before they retired and 89% said they were somewhat or very satisfied with retirement so far.
This week’s guest has spent his entire professional career helping Americans prepare for life after work. He is also very well known to public television audiences.
He is Jonathan Pond, a financial planner, registered investment advisor, prolific author of more than 10 financial advice books, and host of 23 prime-time public television specials. His customized financial review reports have been among the most popular self-help thank you gifts in public television history.
The good news is you don’t have to watch a fund-raising program on public television any longer to take advantage of his personalized financial reviews. Pond just introduced Smart Planner, a comprehensive financial online planning tool for the general public. www.smartplanner.com Pond says it is the culmination of 25 years of work refining all of those financial review questionnaires and reports. It is available for a modest fee of $40. It is completely confidential. You also fill it out anonymously so you never have to worry about receiving solicitations from anyone, including Pond himself. I will recommend taking advantage of it, or another online financial planning service in my Action Point this week.
In my EXTRA interview with Pond, available exclusively on our website, I asked him to describe Smart Planner in more detail and why he specifically designed it to be anonymous. If you have comments or questions, please connect with us via Facebook or Twitter.
Have a great weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and productive one.
Best Regards,
Consuelo
