2010 Summer

• Financial Services Industry
  

  • How Would Your Financial Adviser Feel About You Reading This?

• Investing

  • Why a Castling Defensive Portfolio

  • Background for the Castling Defensive Portfolio
    

  • Methodology for the Castling Defensive Portfolio
    

  • The Castling Defensive Portfolio at an Asset Class Level
    

  • Building the Castling Defensive Portfolio from the Blueprint
    

  • Performance of the Castling Defensive Portfolio: 2000 - 2009
    

  • Buy and Hold is Dead? Long Live Buy and Hold
    

  • Is the Castling Defensive Portfolio Right for Me?​

2015 Winter

• Financial Services Industry / Fiduciary
  

  • Think First, Then Sign (or Preferably Don't Sign) The Save Our Retirement Petition

• Economics / Retirement / Financial Planning

  • Inflation? Nah. This Ain't No Inflation! I Just had to Increase my Prices

• Estate Planning / Financial Planning

  • Before You Bite on that “Free Dinner Seminar”: Viewing Estate Planning in the Context of Your Overall Financial Plan

• Investing

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio: Recap of 2014 and the Consistency that May Bore You to Tears
    

2013 Winter

• Real Estate / Economics
  

  • Residential Real Estate Recovery?

• Financial Planning / Budgeting

  • Budget Killer No. 1: Our Wired and Wireless World

• Annuities / Investing

  • Make Sure You Compare Annuities Vs. Investments on an Apples-to-Apples Basis
    

• Investing

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio: Recap of 2012 and the Long View

Why is “Castling” a Philosophy and not just a Chess move? [..]

2017 Fall

• Economics / Investing
  

  • Why This Economic Expansion (Still Not a Recovery) Can Continue (At Least for a While), But That Doesn't Mean There Won't Be Speed Bumps!

• Investing / Financial Planning

  • Don't Lose Your Balance He Told Me...If I Knew What He Meant, Maybe I Wouldn't Have Gotten a Bloody Nose?

• Fiduciary / Financial Services Industry

  • The New Fiduciary Rules: Creating Paragons of Vitriol?

• Savings / Financial Planning / Investing

  • Cash is Not Trash, Cash is Not King... But Cash Does Provide You With the Big Double O's: Opportunism and Optionality
    

2014 Fall

• Economics / Investing
  

  • Pardon Me While I Open the Bubbly... Wait, It's Kool-Aid?

• Risk Management / Insurance / Financial Planning

  • Mortality, Morbidity, Stupidity, What-ever! OK, Think Risk Management

• Social Security / Retirement

  • Social Insecurity, or How Not to Depend on the Government for Advice

• Investing

  • Grossed Out! Lessons to Take from Bill Gross's Departure at PIMC
    

2018 Spring

• Investing
  

  • The Castling Defensive Portfolio Beat its Bond Competition in 2017, but Could Not Keep Up on the Stock Side; Do We Pull the Plug or Our Hair?

• Social Security / Retirement

  • To Claim or Not to Claim... That is the Question... Uh, Maybe That Should be...To Claim, but When to Claim?

• Reverse Mortgages / Retirement / Real Estate

  • Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling Domicile...What to Consider Before Considering a Reverse Mortgage

• Investing / Annuities / Retirement

  • The Longevity Portfolio Versus the Longevity Annuity... If You Can't Take it With You, Can You Still Leave it Behind?
    

Search our index of Newsletter Articles by category.

2016 Winter

• Investing / Financial Services Industry / Annuities
  

  • Investment Ideas Packaged in Bling...These Are a Few of My Least Favorite Things

• Health Savings Account / Health Care / Financial Planning

  • The Doctor Will See You Now and Do Bring Along Your Health Savings Account

• Real Estate / Investing

  • More Than A Dozen Different Ways of Investing in Real Estate ...None of Which Involve Your Home

• Education Funding / Investing / Financial Planning

  • Applying the Castling Principle to Solve the Student Debt Crisis
    

2014 Summer

• Education Funding / Economics / Financial Planning
  

  • What a Poor Boy From an Ancient Village Can Teach Us All About Choosing and Funding Higher Education

• Financial Services Industry / Fiduciary

  • Does Your Financial Adviser Work for You or for a Commission?

• Social Security / Taxes / Retirement

  • The Dirty Little Secret About Taxes & Social Security (And What You Can Do About It!)

• Economics / Investing

  • Economic Reports and the Stock Market: Is it Really “Good to be Bad”?
    

2016 Spring

• Financial Services Industry / Investing
  

  • Hang In There!...I'm Hanging, What Else Do You Want From Me?...Uh, Ultra Low Expenses, Schmarty-Pants!

• Investing

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio Gets Dinged in 2015, So Why's It Doing Better in 2016?

• Real Estate / Investing

  • You Said You Lost $50,000 on Your Rental Property, But It Was a Good Investment? Want to Borrow My Screwdriver to Tighten Your Loose Screws?

• Charitable Giving / Annuities / Financial Planning

  • Applying the Castling Principle to Charitable Giving - Charitable Gift Annuities
    

2021 Summer

• Economics / Investing

  • Welcome Back, Inflation, We Missed You Almost as Much as Bell-Bottoms...Oh Yeah, Almost Forgot About The Markets and Economy
    

• Investing

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio Hits Target in 2020 after Solidly Handling the Pandemic Crash... And 2021 is Off to Another Consistent Start

• Debt / Credit History / Financial Planning

  • Average Hacker to Average Joe/Jane: “We Don't Want to Hurt Your Credit Score or Nuttin...We Just Want the Money, OK?”
    

• Financial Planning

  • Davos Elites to Millennials/Gen Z: “You'll Own Nothing but be Happy!” ...OK Boomer, What do you Meme by that?
    

2011 Summer

• Financial Services Industry
  

  • Introductions

• Financial Planning

  • The “Triple Constraint of Life” and “What Have You Got to Show for it?"

• Mortgage / Debt / Savings

  • How to Decide If, When and How to Prepay Your Mortgage
    

• Investing

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio: Mid-Year Update and a Look at How We Measure Risk

2017 Spring

• Investing
  

  • The Castling Defensive Portfolio had a Solid Year in 2016, but Still Pulled Up Short of its Goal; Time to Dump it, My Fair Weathered Friend?

  • All That's Gold Does Not Always Glitter... Creating your Own Goldilocks Scenario
    

• Career / Financial Planning / Investing

  • Why Don't Humans Treat Their Human Capital More Humanely?

• Retirement / Financial Planning / Investing

  • Your Personal Moon Shot: Income Planning for Retirement​

Our Newsletters (2010 - 2021)

2014 Spring

• Financial Planning / Economics
  

  • Is 70 the new 50? Yeah, make that 1950, buddy!

• Retirement / Investing

  • Financial Engineering Your Retirement

  • A Match Made in Heaven? The Roth IRA and the Longevity Portfolio

• Investing

  • Sell in May and Go Away? Or Swoon in June and Scream at the Moon? 

2014 Winter

• Financial Planning
  

  • Add To Your Life by Subtracting Something From It

• Investing

  • Yes, It's (a) Bull, But to Prevent Tears, Please Proceed with Extreme Caution!

  • Better Than a Free Lunch Seminar? So Why Exactly Should I Dollar Cost Average?
    

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio: Recap of 2013 and the Hammering of the Bond Market
    

2013 Spring

• Financial Services Industry
  

  • Who is a Valued Customer or Client Nowadays?

• Investing

  • Stock Market High: Real, Inflation Adjusted, Nominal, “Numb-inal” or What?

  • Questions to Ask Yourself if You Have Previously Had a Bad Investing Experience

• Economics / Real Estate

  • Excessive Risk Taking Caused the Financial Crisis?

Castling Financial Planning, Ltd.

2015 Spring

• Financial Services Industry / Fiduciary
  

  • On the Care and Feeding of a Financial Guru

• Retirement / Financial Planning

  • Creating Your Own Definition of “Retirement”

• Investing / Financial Planning

  • OK, Designers, We're Doing a Custom, Private Financial Product...Chop-Chop!

• Debt / Financial Planning / Retirement

  • A Loan From My 401(k)? Seriously? But When Should I Consider This and How Should I Take It?
    

2011 Winter

• Financial Services Industry
  

  • Don't Panic!

• Investing

  • Stock Market Valuation and Our Financial Woes: Blame it on Y2K?

  • Castling Defensive Portfolio: 2010 Year-End Update

• Financial Planning

  • Why is “Castling” a Philosophy and not just a Chess move?​

2020 Fall

• Economics / Investing

  • When Your Neighbor Loses His Job, It's Called a Recession; When You Lose Your Job, It's Called a Depression...But When the Government Just Forces You to STOP Working, Why Do We Call It "Staying Safe"?
    

• Savings / Financial Planning

  • Flatten the Curve? ...Sure, They Flattened the Curve, but on My Savings Yields! ...Now What?

• Retirement / Investing

  • Introduction to Self-Directed IRAs: What, Where, Why and How?
    

• Financial Planning / Taxes

  • Fairness and Feelings vs Facts and Logic: How a State of Illinois Proposed Amendment is Similar to a Bickering Family Failing in Their Finances
    

2020 Winter

• Economics / Investing

  • When Your Neighbor Loses His Job, It's Called a Recession; When You Lose Your Job, It's Called a Depression...But When the Government Just Forces You to STOP Working, Why Do We Call It "Staying Safe"?
    

• Savings / Financial Planning

  • Flatten the Curve? ...Sure, They Flattened the Curve, but on My Savings Yields! ...Now What?

• Retirement / Investing

  • Introduction to Self-Directed IRAs: What, Where, Why and How?
    

• Financial Planning / Taxes

  • Fairness and Feelings vs Facts and Logic: How a State of Illinois Proposed Amendment is Similar to a Bickering Family Failing in Their Finances
    

2016 Fall

• Economics
  

  • The Secret Sauce is Confidence...and You My Dear, Seem to be Lacking It

• Financial Planning

  • Match Maker, Match Maker, Find Me a Match...What, You Expect Me to Choose This "Tool"?

• Real Estate / Retirement

  • Home is Where the Horde (of Cash) is...or Should Be, In Retirement

• Options Trading for Income / Retirement / Annuities

  • Taking Your Lumps (Lump Sum, that is) and Rethinking Income Generation in Retirement
    

2019 Spring

• Economics / Investing

  • When Your Neighbor Loses His Job, It's Called a Recession; When You Lose Your Job, It's Called a Depression...But When the Government Just Forces You to STOP Working, Why Do We Call It "Staying Safe"?
    

• Savings / Financial Planning

  • Flatten the Curve? ...Sure, They Flattened the Curve, but on My Savings Yields! ...Now What?

• Retirement / Investing

  • Introduction to Self-Directed IRAs: What, Where, Why and How?
    

• Financial Planning / Taxes

  • Fairness and Feelings vs Facts and Logic: How a State of Illinois Proposed Amendment is Similar to a Bickering Family Failing in Their Finances
    

2018 Fall

• Economics / Investing
  

  • Come on Baby, Don't Fear the Correction...or Two

• Financial Planning

  • Could Financial Wellness Actually be Your Step Zero?

  • Organization is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up...Like With My Finances, Perhaps?
    

• Risk Management / Insurance / Financial Planning

  • Don't Let Your Financial Plan Become a Casualty of Your Property Casualty Insurance...Practicing Risk Management​

2013 Fall

• Economics
  

  • Who is a Valued Customer or Client Nowadays?

• Retirement

  • The Accidental Retiree or, Surprise! You're Retired!

• Retirement / Budgeting / Taxes

  • Forget Carbon Footprint! Minimize Your Income Footprint in Retirement

• Financial Planning / Investing

  • Castling Principle at Work During the Financial Crisis and Beyond