Wednesday Reading List
The Real Deal Economy Q4 2024 by Heritage Financial
In our “Real Deal Economy” quarterly video series Michael Waldron, Heritage Financial’s Director of Portfolio Management, digs into the most recent economic news making headlines and breaks down which data points matter for your investments, and which ones are noise that you can largely ignore.
Private Credit: A Strategic Allocation In Portfolios by Sapient Capital
The private credit market (direct loans made by non-bank lenders) has grown tremendously since banks started pulling back on lending after the Great Financial Crisis. It’s an asset class that provides attractive risk-adjusted returns and is becoming more accessible to individual investors. It has provided higher yields than publicly traded high-yield bonds, other sources of return, and is senior in the capital structure which provides downside protection.
2024 Predictions by Scott Galloway
Most years Galloway gets more predictions right than wrong. This year he sees, amongst other things, inflation dropping below 2.5%, a housing sales boom, the AI bubble easing, India becoming the new China economically, and tensions between the U.S. and China easing. There’s lots more, including how he sees the 2024 election playing out.
Retirees: Here’s What Your Portfolio Withdrawal Rate Should Be in 2024 by Morningstar
The co-author of Morningstar’s annual study on retirement income shares that retirees can reasonably withdraw 4% from their portfolio if they expect retirement to last 30 years, less if they will retire younger (3.3%) , and more if they retire later (5.5%). She also shares that people tend to spend less in retirement as the years go by, and if you’re willing to be flexible in your annual spending need you can withdraw more than 4% as a base case so long as you are spending less in years when the portfolio is down.
Schwab Market Perspective: Something for Everyone by Charles Schwab Asset Management
Stocks are more expensive and investors are exuberant but breadth has improved and is healthier for 2024. Treasury yields might float lower, but Fed rate cuts should be good for bonds. A new fiscal agreement in Europe should help some countries come out of recession.