Phil Simonides
Washington, D.C.
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Articles by Phil Simonides
Stop Waiting for the Perfect Moment to Invest: There Isn't One
Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Subscribe to our newsletter The single most expensive financial mistake most investors make has nothing to do with picking the wrong stock or owning the wrong fund. It's the decision to do nothing — to wait for a better moment that never quite arrives. Call it the market timing trap. It sounds reasonable on the surface: Buy low, sell high, avoid the downturns.
Waiting for Market Certainty Is Costing You Money: Here’s How to Make Timing Irrelevant
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Getty Images The single most expensive financial mistake most investors make has nothing to do with picking the wrong stock or owning the wrong fund. It's the decision to do nothing — to wait for a better moment that never quite arrives. Call it the market timing trap. It sounds reasonable on the surface: Buy low, sell high, avoid the downturns.
I'm a Financial Planner: My College House-Painting Job Taught Me the Best Way to Compare Professional Fees — and It Works for Financial Advice, Too
When I was in college, I ran a house-painting franchise. Every spring, homeowners would collect bids and try to decide who to hire. This is when I discovered that a price is comparable only after you define the job. One painting crew might scrape, sand, prime, caulk, protect landscaping and do two coats, with a written warranty. Another might spray on a quick coat and disappear.
I'm a Financial Planner: My College House-Painting Job Taught Me the Best Way to Compare Professional Fees — and It Works for Financial Advice, Too Original
Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Subscribe to our newsletter Whenever I meet with new investors, one of their first questions is, "What are your fees?" While this might seem like a natural question, it's often misguided and asked too early in the process. Before you ask about an adviser's fees, you should first want to know what services they can provide. When I was in college, I ran a house-painting franchise.
I'm a Financial Adviser: My College House-Painting Job Taught Me the Best Way to Compare Professional Fees — and It Works for Financial Advice, Too
When evaluating financial advisors, experts suggest focusing first on the services and expertise you need rather than simply comparing fees, as lower costs do not necessarily equate to better value. They also emphasize reviewing an advisor’s credentials, noting that certifications such as the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® designation can signal advanced training, professional standards and a deeper commitment to comprehensive financial planning. Kiplinger Phil Simonides, CFP® July 28, 2026
How Football and Annuities Can Defend Against Risk in Retirement
These strategies may be especially useful at the present time, when we're potentially on the precipice of a substantial and long-term pullback of market valuations. Consider these two data-backed points: At the end of 2025 and coming into 2026, the CAPE ratio for the S&P 500 was 39.59. The last time we have seen CAPE ratios reach these dizzying heights was in December 1999, when the CAPE ratio reached a peak of 44.2 and remained above 40 for the first nine months of 2000.
How Football and Annuities Can Defend Against Risk in Retirement Original
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Myth Busters: Examining the Facts about Index Annuities | Kiplinger
annuities Don’t fall for the hype that screams that annuities are too expensive, too complicated and poor performers. Before you turn your nose up at them, take a moment to learn a little more about annuities. You may discover one that is a great option for you. For years people have wondered about the use of annuities in their investment and retirement portfolios. In 2019 alone, total deferred annuity sales topped $221 billion, of which a record $73.2 billion were considered fixed index annuities.
How Do You Really Know How You're Doing for Retirement?
One of the most common questions advisers get from clients about their retirement plans or investment portfolios is: How am I doing? The root of that question could speak to how individuals are tracking against their goals, how they're tracking against their peers, or a combination of the two. Either way, the American public lacks the expertise to properly assess their well-being. As an individual investor, it's hard to compare yourself to something you can't really see.
How Are You Really Doing for Retirement?
It's natural to try to compare the car you drive, the vacations you take and the home you live in to that of your neighbors, friends and co-workers, but it won't give you the accurate picture you need to tell where you stand. One of the most common questions advisers get from clients about their retirement plans or investment portfolios is: How am I doing?
Tax Diversification: An Untapped Resource For Wealth Over Your Lifetime
Conventional wisdom recommends diversifying investment holdings so that when one sector or asset class dips, another can make up the difference. And, for the average individual, diversification has always focused on equities, and equities alone. That’s a problem. Holistically, diversification is a broader process designed to mitigate risk in a variety of areas. It’s true that investors never want to own too much of one company or one sector.
Tax Diversification: An Untapped Resource for Wealth Over Your Lifetime
Conventional wisdom recommends diversifying investment holdings so that when one sector or asset class dips, another can make up the difference. And, for the average individual, diversification has always focused on equities, and equities alone. Holistically, diversification is a broader process designed to mitigate risk in a variety of areas. It's true that investors never want to own too much of one company or one sector.
Tax Diversification: An Untapped Resource for Wealth
Sure, diversifying is a good idea for investors, but unless part of your diversification strategy is based on how your investments are taxed, you could be missing out in retirement. Conventional wisdom recommends diversifying investment holdings so that when one sector or asset class dips, another can make up the difference. And, for the average individual, diversification has always focused on equities, and equities alone.
What Do Potential Tax Changes Mean for Your Investments?
Whether it's tax cuts or a fundamental rewrite of the tax code, the tax system is incredibly complex, and changes to it can dramatically impact investments. Even though President Trump and the House GOP recently announced tax proposals, investors still don't have a clear picture of how any proposal would affect their cash flow and investment strategy -- because negotiations have yet to begin.
Which Career Path Are You On? Your Retirement Strategy Depends On It
When it comes to traditional retirement plans, you've heard it a million times: To develop a comprehensive retirement plan, you need to figure out your goals and develop the best strategy to help achieve them. Investors often define those goals only in terms of what they want to accomplish personally and financially. While those are two important pillars of a strategy, a comprehensive retirement plan will not stand on those two legs alone.
Retirement Planning With Football Strategy
You may need to adjust your strategy during crunch time in order to successfully reach the end zone. Football season is entering a critical stretch, and the thrilling nature of the games is boosting the sport's popularity during this time of year. Have you ever watched a game and thought that the fourth quarter always seems to matter the most? As the game gets closer to the end, the pressure builds, and teams start changing their game plans and playing styles to try to win.
5 Things Fourth-Quarter Football Strategy Can Teach You About Retirement Planning
Football season is entering a critical stretch, and the thrilling nature of the games is boosting the sport's popularity during this time of year. Have you ever watched a game and thought that the fourth quarter always seems to matter the most? As the game gets closer to the end, the pressure builds, and teams start changing their game plans and playing styles to try to win. It usually results in a lot of excitement.
Here’s what you should understand about annuities before you buy
Annuities, despite promising guaranteed income during retirement, are widely misunderstood. Indeed, over the years some common myths about annuities have become accepted as fact. Here are some of the most common misunderstandings about annuities, and how to avoid their pitfalls. There are fees associated with some annuities, just as there are fees to buy and sell a stock. And it’s important to consider all of those fees. Yet there are low-fee and even no-fee annuities.
What Could Tax Changes Mean for Your Investments?
To get an idea of where our tax rates could be going (and the opportunities that could be coming), compare and contrast the tax proposals floated by President Trump and the House GOP. Whether it’s tax cuts or a fundamental rewrite of the tax code, the tax system is incredibly complex, and changes to it can dramatically impact investments.
3 Things You Didn't Realize a Financial Adviser Could Do for You
Money governs so much of our lives. It's a deciding factor in the biggest decisions we make – from the careers we pursue to where we choose to live and put down roots. Yet when it comes to major life decisions, people often fail to realize the ways in which a financial adviser can help them more effectively navigate life's challenges and opportunities.
4 Keys to Reaching Your Lifetime Financial Goals
Understanding the state of the market, as well as your wealth, objectives and career trajectory, can help you create a solid plan to maximize returns. Developing a comprehensive retirement plan isn't easy. You need to have a strategy. For decades, the business world has been guided by something called SWOT analysis to evaluate new ventures, ideas and opportunities. SWOT, you say?
Estate Planning Advice Inspired by Prince
He was no Michael Jackson—at least in this area of personal finance. So take a lesson from the tragic demise of the Purple One and prepare better for your own death. Prince's musical legacy to the world is irrefutable; his financial legacy is far less certain. The tragedy of losing Prince Rogers Nelson on April 21 is exacerbated by his reported lack of a will and proper estate planning. In some ways, it's understandable that he had not taken the time to outline his wishes in the event of his death.
9 Tax Tips to Save Money Next Year
It's never too early to start planning for next year's tax bill. The contributing financial experts for Kiplinger's Wealth Creation Channel have offered a lot of sage tax advice this year—and much of their wisdom is sure to stand the test of time. Review the following tax tips, and keep them in mind for the next time you file. "…increased 401(k) contributions and charitable giving are great ways to lower that tax expense.
How Your Career Steers Your Retirement Strategy
From job-hopper to lifetime loyalist, there are the five types of career paths people tend to follow. Here are the retirement-planning challenges and strategies for each. When it comes to traditional retirement plans, you’ve heard it a million times: To develop a comprehensive retirement plan, you need to figure out your goals and develop the best strategy to help achieve them. Investors often define those goals only in terms of what they want to accomplish personally and financially.
5 Questions to Ask Your Adviser About Taxes
Do you know what asset location is? What about tax loss harvesting? Understanding these concepts might help you minimize your tax hit. As Ben Franklin once said, "There are only three things certain in life: death, taxes… and an annual scramble by investors to try and save money on taxes before the filing deadline." Okay, maybe he only said two of those, but as we approach another April 15, investors are once again looking for ways to be as tax efficient as possible with their investments.
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