Dan Solin's Newsletter, April 13, 2017

It’s not surprising that many of you are concerned about geopolitics and how recent developments might impact your investments. Like sharks who smell blood in the water, the financial media preys on your fear.

Fear and anxiety are good for its business. It increases viewership. More viewers mean more revenue. Consequently, its incentivized to stoke your anxiety and encourage you to “do something” as a reaction to these uncertain times.

An endless parade of smug pundits offer their (often contradictory) views on how investors should react to recent events in Syria and the looming crisis in North Korea.

Here’s what they don’t tell you. No one has the expertise to reliably predict when to get in and out of the market.

Instead of reacting to short-term news, focus on the factors you can control: Your asset allocation; keeping fees and costs as low as possible and reducing, deferring and eliminating taxes.

The tragic events in Syria, the latest missile test in North Korea, the terrorist attack in Stockholm and whatever tomorrow may bring are not within your control and should have no effect on your long-term investment strategy.

Dan

Ask Dan

Question from Harry:

I’m retiring from the military. Should I rollover my savings in the Thrift Savings Plan or keep it there?

There’s no better 401(k) plan in the country that the Thrift Savings Plan. It has minimal costs and excellent investment options. Absent really compelling reasons to do otherwise, you should strongly consider keeping your retirement funds there.

Recommended resource of the week

Each week I’ll recommend a resource that provides sound investing advice.

This week’s pick is: http://daretobedull.com

Why I like it

Dare To Be Dull is authored Allan Roth, a fee-only investment advisor, financial journalist and author of How A Second Grader Beats Wall Street.

His website is an excellent source of common sense, well-supported advice.  His book is excellent. I highly recommend it (Full disclosure: I wrote the Introduction).