Welcome to LFM&P

A different kind of financial advisor

We think that you may find this website to be different from other financial advisor sites that you have seen, because LFM&P is different from many other financial advisors. The site provides you with some of the essential concepts that you should know about retirement planning and risk-managed investing, so that you can determine whether your financial future is on the right track. Many advisors neglect to address some or all of these issues. We are sharing these ideas with you, because they can be truly important to your financial well-being. LFM&P’s primary focus is to help people secure their financial future by filling the gaps in planning and execution.

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Is Buy-and-Hold Dead?

A different explanation about the conventional advice

The financial community in general has promoted the “Buy-and-Hold” strategy for many years as the only acceptable approach to investing. The recent bear market put Buy-and-Hold to the test as the fortunes of some who have followed it have been cut in half. This raises the questions:

Retirement Plan Therapy

A different perspective on handling the effects of the market crash.

Have your retirement preparations been set back recently? Has the market crash dealt them a knockout punch? Do you know where you stand? What should you do now to recover?

The first thing to do is to take a deep breath and recognize that the financial world has changed. In every change there is potential opportunity. You can resolve to work with the new environment and develop a new, better and stronger  plan for your future.

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When Is The Long-Term Right For You?

A different way to think about your time horizon

Just after the stock market peak in 2000, there were a number of man-in-the-street interviews on television asking people what they thought about their investments. The typical response was either a proud or resolute "I'm in it for the long term", which they had been trained by their advisors to believe. We wonder how many of those people are still "in it for the long term" today.

In our opinion, at LFM&P, it is important for you to consciously know whether or not you are in it for the long (or short) term. While we may agree that it is important to be a long-term investor, we may differ from others about what that really means.

How To Minimize Advisor Risk

Some different aspects of your advisor relationship to understand and evaluate

Investments pay higher returns because they involve risk. Some risk is necessary. Some risk is not. Risk from a self-serving advisor can be avoided. Headline grabbing stories about Bernie Madoff and other scams publicize one type of advisor risk. More commonplace is simply an advisor who profits at your expense from arrangements like commissions that may conflict with your best interest. For an investor who understands the different types of advisors and is willing to inquire, this kind of risk can be minimized.

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Why Does Your Asset Allocation Determine Your Financial Future?

A different way to think about your financial resources

At first thought, it seems like a stretch to say that something as arcane as your asset allocation will determine your financial future. But if you broaden the normal definition of asset allocation to include all of your assets, the concept and statement is not at all unreasonable. In addition to stocks, bonds, mutual funds and cash, your financial assets also include your ability to earn an income, social security, pensions and real estate. Each one of these assets has different characteristics of probable return and associated risk. The way in which you mix your assets will determine the total return you can expect, the volatility of your wealth, and the risk of falling short.

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