Ellen Rinaldi has held a variety of leadership positions since joining Vanguard in 1997. At present, she serves in our Planning and Development division, where she is responsible for protecting client information, among other key responsibilities.
The other day, I was preparing to record a podcast for Vanguard.com on life events and asset allocation. I decided to veer away from the predictable “retirement is a life event” theme and concentrate on marriage, children, and divorce as life events that should stimulate some serious consideration of your asset allocation.
Then I happened upon this Wall Street Journal article, which made me pause.
We at Vanguard educate, cajole, and opine everywhere on the importance of keeping your investment portfolio diversified and matched closely with your risk profile. We should be saying more about just where you’re keeping those investments.
In June 1997, Chicago Tribune writer Mary Schmich penned a now-famous column titled “Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young.” In short, the column served as the speech that Ms. Schmich would give if she were asked to make a commencement address. The following year, the column went viral, if you will, in the form of the music single “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).”
I’ve never heard this discussed by men, but some women carry the worry that they will end up old and alone, with no money and no home. It’s not generally ever-present, but rears up as reports on foreclosures, unemployment, plant closings, and law-firm and hospital layoffs proliferate in the press. It’s often termed “bag-lady syndrome”.
Do you have a tax refund coming? Some would say it means you over-withheld and should have paid less last year. Others look at it as a non-interest-bearing savings account. I’d look at it as an opportunity to improve your financial picture and prepare for the next inevitable downturn—whether it happens next week, next month, or five years from now.
