As it’s the summer fund raising season on public television, this week we are revisiting an interview with two top personal finance journalists, both now at The Wall Street Journal. Jonathan Clements and Jason Zweig tackle the three greatest financial challenges facing Americans. Watch the episode here.
New this week, we are sharing some interesting research on retirement savings. It’s from a recent T. Rowe Price survey which found that recent retirees with 401 (k)s feel on track meeting their financial goals. Some of their key findings are that retirees are living on less – on average, around 66% of their pre-retirement income. However, nearly 60% report that are living as well or better than when they were working. Almost 90% are reasonably satisfied with retirement so far and most think that are better off compared with how their parents fared in retirement.
RECENT PROGRAMS
TRENNERT: THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE
How worried are you about the stock market? Is the near tripling of stock prices since the 2009 market bottom a cause for concern? This week’s WEALTHTRACK guest has some different and positive perspectives on the market. Jason Trennert is Managing Partner and Chief Investment Strategist of Strategas Research Partners, an independent investment strategy and macroeconomic research firm. Trennert is widely followed by institutional investors in the money management and hedge fund world, and is identified as one of “Wall Street’s Best Minds” by Barron’s. One of his most widely quoted themes is known as TINA – “There Is No Alternative” – meaning “there is no alternative to stocks right now”. We’ll ask him to explain.
WILBY & SARGEN: GLOBAL DANGERS
How vulnerable are the markets? Despite rising geopolitical conflicts and uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve’s exit plan from its unprecedented monetary expansion, U.S. stock and bond markets are trading near record highs. Two veteran global investors, private investor William Wilby, formerly of number one ranked Oppenheimer Global Fund and Fort Washington Investment Advisors’ Chief Economist and Senior Investment Advisor Nicholas Sargen share their perspective and strategies.
ROBERT DOLL: MARKET ORACLE
This week’s WEALTHTRACK guest has made a name for himself with his annual predictions and with his proven investment skill. Bob Doll, Chief Equity Strategist and Senior Portfolio Manager at Nuveen Asset Management, has run several large cap stock mutual funds for three decades. We’ll get a personal take on his mid-year predictions for investment opportunities, and traps to avoid.
STEVEN LEUTHOLD: THE CONTRARIAN’S CONTRARIAN
Contrarian money manager Steven Leuthold called it quits from the tightly regulated mutual fund business a couple of years ago. He wanted to escape from the rules, the pressures of managing billions and grueling publishing deadlines. Last year he launched Leuthold Strategies, a small private investment partnership. He’s investing in businesses that many investors consider to be toxic, including uranium mining and Chinese water and pharmaceutical companies. He’ll explain his unusual choices.
ROBERT KESSLER: BULLISH ON TREASURIES
For years Great Investor Robert Kessler has correctly predicted that interest rates would decline to record lows and remain subdued because of subpar economic growth. The founder and CEO of Kessler Investment Advisors is sticking to his guns and maintains that U.S. Treasury bonds will continue to be a major beneficiary. He’ll explain why he thinks Treasuries, one of the most vilified investments on Wall Street should be a core holding in everyone’s portfolio.
