Bethany’s partner wants to invest most of their money in gold and silver, but no one seems to talk about this kind of investing. Is this a red flag or a potential opportunity?
Diana is worried she’s been saving too much for her kids’ college – hundreds of dollars a month since they were born. How does she know when to stop?
Wendy’s pension and social security will cover all her basic expenses during retirement. Does the four percent rule still apply to her discretionary nest egg, or is there another approach?
Former financial planner Joe Saul-Sehy and I tackle these questions in today’s episode.
Enjoy!
P.S. Got a question? Leave it here.
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Bethany asks (at 02:01 minutes): I’m in my mid-thirties, calling from Australia, and my partner and I have been together for over five years with mostly combined finances. He’s originally from the U.S., and we’ve been discussing a more unified investment strategy.
Right now, we each have separate investments, but my partner is particularly interested in gold and silver. He’s not very confident in the stock market and prefers to allocate as much of his money as possible to precious metals.
I rarely hear people talk about investing in gold and silver, so I’d love to get your take. What are the key considerations, potential red flags, or common pitfalls we should be aware of—aside from the obvious challenge of physically storing large amounts of gold and silver?
Diana asks (at 27:23 minutes): How do I know when to pull the brakes on college savings? We have three children, ages 13, 11, and 7. We’ve contributed $600 per month per child – $1,800 in total – to their 529s since they were born.
We have $150,000 saved for our oldest son who we expect to start college in four to five years. Since we may be able to supplement the rest with cash, should I cut this back or stop altogether with the expectation that it’ll grow a bit more by the time he needs it?
Am I saving too much? What are the risks to consider?
Wendy asks (at 48:17 minutes): How should asset allocation change when part of your retirement income is secured versus relying entirely on a nest egg? Do traditional drawdown strategies like the four percent rule still apply?
My husband and I plan to retire at 59 and a half with a conservatively invested fund to bridge us to 65. At that point, we’ll have $100,000 per year in non-cost-of-living adjusted pensions and another $70,000 from Social Security, fully covering our base expenses—including housing, healthcare, food, transportation, and minimal discretionary spending.
Beyond that, we have a flexible budget of $100,000 to $125,000 annually for extensive travel, gifting to our kids, and maintaining our current $300,000 standard of living. Since this portion of spending is discretionary, we can adjust it in down markets.
A common approach is holding 50 to 75 percent in equities like a low-cost index fund with the rest in safer assets like bonds or cash equivalents. But what if the lump sum isn’t needed to cover essential expenses and instead serves as a flexible source of discretionary spending?
Is there a better strategy for investing the discretionary pot for long-term growth without excessive risk? Should we incorporate bonds at all, or would a four-fund efficient frontier approach be more effective?
Additionally, we have $2 million in real estate equity that we’re not factoring into our retirement plan, but we could downsize if necessary. How should that influence our investment approach?
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