Showing results by author "Dale C. Maley" in All Categories

Millions of American Baby Boomers are reaching retirement age. Many of them have set up estate plans using either wills or trusts. One additional document that can save their heirs a great deal of time is a Letter of Instruction. This short story explores how writing a Letter of Instruction can greatly ease the burden on your heirs of settling your estate.

One of the key decisions an investor has to make is what level of portfolio risk to assume. If the stock allocation is too low, the investor runs the risk of inflation diminishing the portfolio value. If the stock allocation is too high, the investor may panic and sell-out every eight years when we have a Bear stock market. This short story explores the issue of portfolio risk. After reading this short story, you will have enough information to make your own well-informed asset allocation decision.

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois.William T. Stackpole came from a prominent family in the Maine coastal city of Thomaston, Maine. He was born in 1827. He grew up on the St. Georges River in Maine. At Thomaston, the St. Georges river empties into the Atlantic Ocean. He was aware of the great success of the Erie Canal, built in 1821. These factors led to a life-long obsession with improving waterway shipping, including rivers and canals.His...

The first settlers in the Fairbury area was Major Darnall south of town in 1829 and the McDowell family north of town in 1832. In 1857, the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad installed new tracks which helped to create the village of Fairbury.This book is a collection of over 70 different carefully researched stories about various aspects of Fairbury history. These stories run the range from the pioneer settlers, the coal miners, enterprising businessmen, school history, banking history, Post Office locations, and modern efforts to preserve Fairbury history.It is hoped this book will help people ...

Since it's founding in 1857, Fairbury has had eight murders committed. This book reviews the history behind each of these eight murders. If you are interested in Fairbury history, this book contains almost 200 pictures and sketches of Fairbury history.

The last few years I have been exploring all aspects of retirement planning. Portfolio rebalancing is one area that I have never really explored in any detail. If an investor desires a portfolio with 50% stocks and 50% bonds, over long time periods it is likely this original asset allocation will drift to a higher percentage of stocks and a lower percentage of bounds. Current popular financial planning guidelines suggest the investor should adjust or rebalance the portfolio back to the original asset allocation on some calendar basis (typically annually). Rebalancing requires effort to ...

Many of the 67 million Baby Boomers who turn age 65 in 2011 want to retire. If they have chosen a high-priced financial advisor, their retirement date may be delayed indefinitely. This short story utilizes a real life example of a couple who can never retire due to excessive investment and financial planning fees. After reading this short story, you will be able to make your own well-informed decision on how to optimize investment and financial planning fees so you can retire sooner.

This short story explores the pros and cons of investing in variable annuities versus conventional mutual funds.

James McDowell (1747-1809) was born in Ireland. He was a soldier under General Wayne in the Revolutionary War and was wounded at Brandywine. He married Sarah Gorrell (1763-1834) and they had nine children in Ohio. Families of three of these nine children moved to Avoca Township in Illinois starting in 1832. Descendants of James and Sarah fought in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.These McDowell family members were pioneers that helped establish the Illinois towns of Avoca, McDowell, Fairbury, and Gibson City. Some of the Fairbury, Illinois McDowells named and helped to establish Fairbury, ...

This short story explains how you can determine if you have saved enough to retire.

Millions of Americans are saving and investing in an effort to fulfill their long term goals including college education for their children and retirement. One proven method of increasing the probability of achieving your goals is to put them in writing. This short story explores how writing an Investment Policy Statement can help you meet your financial goals.

In the years immediately preceding 2008, the rage in financial planning was diversification. By not putting all your eggs into one basket, some asset classes would do poorly.......but other asset classes would do well. The theory was that investors should find asset classes which are not correlated to each other. The financial planning industry and Wall Street advocated investing in many asset classes including diversified U.S. stocks, diversified developed international stocks, emerging market stocks, commodities, timber, and bonds. Unfortunately, in the Crash of 2008, all asset classes ...

John A. Oliver (1733-1824) lived in Bordentown, New Jersey. He became friends with Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). John Oliver served as a quartermaster in the Revolutionary War. Bordentown citizen Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) was a patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hopkinson had artistic talents and help design the first U.S. flag, wrote music, wrote poetry, sketched and painted. Hopkinson painted a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Franklin then gave the portrait to his friend, John Oliver. Eventually Franklin Oliver (1797-1881) inherited the portrait from his ...

As the 67 million Baby Boomers enter retirement, they face a key question. What is the optimum method of converting their retirement portfolio into cash during retirement? This short story explores several alternative methods for converting a retirement portfolio into cash. Reading this short story will allow you to make your own well-informed decision on how to optimize the conversion of your retirement portfolio.

Young homeowners often wonder if they should pay off their mortgage early. The 76 million Baby Boomers heading into retirement also face the key question on whether or not pay off their mortgage early. Financial experts differ in opinion on the mortgage early pay off decision. This short story explores the many aspects of the mortgage early pay off decision. This story will provide you with enough information to make your own well informed decision regarding your specific early mortage pay off situation.

The first settlers in the Fairbury area was Major Darnall south of town in 1829 and the McDowell's north of town in 1832. In 1857, the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad installed new tracks which helped to create the village of Fairbury. This book is a collection of over 70 different carefully researched stories about various aspects of Fairbury history. These stories run the range from the pioneer settlers to modern efforts to preserve Fairbury history. It is hoped this book will help people better understand the almost 200 years of rich history that helped to define the community of Fairbury.

This short story explains the theory of behavioral finance and helps to explain how you can use these theories to help achieve your financial goals.

This book traces the founding of the Fairbury area including the first pioneer farmers. The book includes maps of the Fairbury area indicating where the first farmers purchased land along Indian Creek or the Vermilion River. In 1850, Congress passed a new law authorizing land patents for military veterans. Most of these veterans did not want to move to the swampy Fairbury area, so they sold their patents to farmers interested in trying to farm the swampy soil. This triggered a second wave of pioneer settlers in the middle 1850s. In 1851, the State of Illinois passed a new law authorizing ...

Most studies have shown that asset allocation, not what stocks and when you buy stocks, is the most important determinant of future net worth. This short story explains the basics of asset allocation. This short story will help you determine what type of asset allocation strategy best fits your particular financial situation.

Bogleheads® are people who are very interested in investing. They meet and share their ideas about investing and personal finance on their online forum. Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard, is one of their heroes. The typical Boglehead lives below their means so they can save and invest. They typically invest in low-cost Vanguard index funds in a well diversified portfolio. Over half of the Bogleheads are already millionaires. After reading this short story about the Bogleheads, you may decide to improve your own financial situation by joining their online forum.