PowerTrend Brief: Odds Are High You Will Fall Short in Your Retirement

I scour a number of magazines, newspapers, financial filings, trade publications and, of course, the web each week to read the latest news and information. I do that research not only to look for confirming data points for my Great 8 PowerTrends, but also to look for the next new PowerTrend. Every so often, however, I find a piece of information that catches even me off guard, and that happened this week.

While reading a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, I learned that 57 percent of U.S. workers surveyed reported less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments, excluding their homes!

The same survey also found that 28 percent of Americans have no confidence they will have enough money to retire comfortably. That’s the highest level in the study’s 23-year history.

To me, this situation is a festering pain point that meshes with my Living Longer Lives PowerTrend. What’s the quality of your life going to be when your savings fall short of your needs as we are living longer than ever before?

I know that potential shortfall sounds alarming, but there are ways to help remedy the situation. One is to begin saving, but let’s face reality — saving alone is not going to grow your money fast enough to help you in your retirement. Certainly, not when even the best savings account rates are only at 1% and one year CDs are only modestly better. With low interest rates here to stay at least for a while longer, you need to put at least part of your savings in the stock market to generate better returns. If you’re one of those 57 percent, you can’t afford not to do so.

Now I know what you’re probably saying to yourself — with the stock market near record highs, is now the time to jump in?

I’d argue the better question is: can you afford not to do so?

Subscribers of my investment newsletter, PowerTrend Profits, already are reaping double-digit percentage returns. For the last few weeks, I’ve recommended that they book big profits in International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), Applied Materials (AMAT), Starbucks (SBU) and Xylem (XYL), and exit their entire position in Inter Parfums (IPAR). Each of those investments generated a return between 24%-34% with a holding period that averaged just more than eight months.

The smart move would be to reinvest those profits in other companies that have strong fundamentals and whose stocks have more upside ahead. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing in PowerTrend Profits during the last few weeks by repositioning our portfolio and redeploying our winnings to capitalize on what’s coming next — the Connected Home, the continued rebound in housing and manufacturing and the up-and-coming interface technology that will change the way to interact with your smartphone, tablet, car or truck and, soon, your home.

Come join me and put your money to work for you.

PowerTalk — Publishing & Advertising Industries with Andrew Nachison, Founder of WeMedia

I’m sure you’ve noticed the shift in consumer behavior from print — newspapers and magazines — to online editions read on a computer, tablet like the iPad or even a smartphone. That shift, which is a central part of the behavior behind my Always On, Always Connected PowerTrend, has had a profound impact on publishing business models and resulted in many shifting from print to digital editions. Joining me this week to discuss all of this activity and to talk about some of the latest strategies now put to work to help revitalize the news industry is Andrew Nachison, one of the founders of WeMedia, a global agency, studio and idea incubator for the digital age.

Several key takeaways from my conversation with Andrew include:

• Newspaper and magazine publishers like The New York Times Company, Gannet Co. (GCI), The Washington Post Company (WPO) and others continue to struggle with the shift in advertising dollars to digital platforms and away from print. While there are some success stories in the print medium, the publishing companies continue to struggle with how they compete with online properties.
• Publishers are experimenting with new business models, such as the pay wall seen at News Corp’s Wall Street Journal. Several online properties, such as Business Insider and Buzz Feed, have embraced a native advertising model that includes the “advatorie,” a hybrid advertising and content initiative that meshes well within the online property’s content offering. This model is evident inside of other platforms, such as Patagonia and other media-product providers.
• The “advatorie” business model poses a threat to Google’s Adsense text and banner advertising model.
• Tablets, such as Apple’s (AAPL) iPad and others will pressure the text book industry. Already new libraries are popping up that don’t have any books. Companies to watch on this front include News Corp., Amplify and Scholastic (SCHL).

Listen to my PowerTalk with Andrew Nachison, Founder of WeMedia

To read my e-letter from last week, please click here. I also invite you to comment about my column in the space provided below.

Host, PowerTalk

Upcoming Appearances

• On Tuesday, March 26, I’ll be presenting “Three PowerTrends to Profit from in 2013” at eMoneyShow.com. To register, click here.
• You are invited to hear me speak and to meet me on Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m., when I discuss “Three Power Trends to Profit From” at a lecture that I will give at New Jersey City University in Jersey City, N.J. The Wall Street Perspectives Lecture Series 2013 event is scheduled for the Harborside Financial Center 4A, 286 Washington Street, in Jersey City. To RSVP, contact Bernard McSherry, an assistant professor of finance, at 201/200-2529 or bmcsherry@njcu.edu. I hope to see you there!