You’re Invited to Beautyview Gardens 2022 From the desk of PDS Planning co-founder and long-time friend, Bob Cochran and his wife, Susan. Beautyview Gardens in Columbus, Ohio is a registered display garden of the American Daylily Society. Our gardens offer a spectacular display of colors, shapes, and sizes. We feature many hardy plants from Ohio…
I’ve been officially retired for more than two years. During that time, I have been asked numerous times about when to take Social Security retirement benefits. My general response is that it pays to delay receipt of benefits to age 70. After that, there is no incentive to delay other than potential income taxes.…
Bob & Susan Cochran welcome you to another blooming summer season! Beautyview Gardens is a registered display garden of the American Daylily Society. From mid-June through August, our gardens offer a spectacular display of colors, shapes, and sizes. We feature many plants from Ohio hybridizers (that will grow in our crazy climate and clay soil),…
Beyond Your Finances, Investment Planning, Retirement
Readers of my previous blog posts know that since I retired more than 18 months ago, I don’t spend much time looking at the values of my investments. There are four main reasons for this. First, I spent more than 30 years watching the markets and client portfolio values on a daily basis. I…
Living a Rewarding Retirement: The Importance of Time It’s minus 3 degrees this morning, with a thick blanket of snow on the ground, and winds are making it feel like 20 below. There is little compelling reason for this retired guy to hustle around and get outdoors, so it’s as good a time as any…
Beyond Your Finances, Retirement
“Some people make more than a career out of their work. They make a difference.” It’s been more than a year since I retired from my position as Portfolio Manager and Chief Compliance Officer with PDS Planning in Columbus, Ohio. One of the many retirement cards I received from clients and colleagues contained…
Beyond Your Finances, Retirement
There have been many changes for me since August 31, 2017. On that day, I officially retired as partner and Chief Compliance Officer of PDS Planning, Inc. in Columbus. Having worked for a total of almost 50 years (five of those while I was in college), there was more than a bit of trepidation as…
30 years ago this month, investors were enjoying one of the strongest bull markets in history. The Dow was up more than 40% for the year, to a record high of around 2,750. Things began to get a bit dicey after that, with a drop of 9% over the next few weeks, followed by…
The fifth in a series of articles For me there has always been a disconnect between the concept of wealthy living and the size of a person’s bank account, retirement account, or other traditional measure of wealth. Enjoying a wealthy life should not be determined by how much money one makes or has amassed. Wealthy…
The fourth in a series of articles My original intent was to retire when I turned 70. However, as I noted in Part 2 of this series, the realization that “it’s time” bumped up my retirement to this fall, when I turn 67. Thus the mental switch was flipped. Then the “Can I afford…
My original intent was to retire when I turned 70. However, as I noted in Part 2 of this series, the realization that “it’s time” bumped up my retirement to this fall, when I turn 67. Thus the mental switch was flipped, then the “Can I afford to retire?” review and decision was made. A…
This is the second in a series of articles on preparing for retirement, in which I consider the question we all ask: “Can I afford to retire?”. Future articles will deal with converting my retirement plan from one of accumulation to one of distribution, health insurance, Social Security planning, investments, eventual downsizing and/or re-locating, and…
March 2017 Financial Markets Summary Last month we noted the average 2017 year-end target for the S&P 500, as predicted by 16 major investment banks, is 2353. Expectations were, on average, very tame. As we write this letter today, the index is at 2400…so much for expert predictions. And who thought we would have double-digit…
This is the first in a series of articles on preparing for retirement. The next few will deal with what retirement looks like – what I will do as I enter another stage of my life, Social Security planning, cash flow expectations, investments, planning for health care, eventual downsizing and/or re-locating, and other topics I…
Yesterday’s presidential election results were a surprise for most Americans. Virtually all pollsters had it wrong. Just as the Brexit vote confounded the media and much of the world, Donald Trump’s upset victory over Hillary Clinton has left much of the world wondering how it happened. For our clients, there is little point in us…
