r. 1 Personal Finance 6 F-: John J. Kroll PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR Avoid big debt for the big day at One advantage to getting married in a smaller church is that our friends and family filled the pews. How many weddings can claim to be almost SRO? My bride's best friend, and that friend's mother, sang "'There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit in This Place" in voices so pure the sound formed bands of color, voices so tender that my eyes water just remembering. The pastor leaped from the pulpit, shouting "Extra! as he began the sermon.
The congregation's group flinch sounded like a flock of birds lifting off in startled unison. Those memories didn't cost a mint. why it disturbed me to read in a recent Bride's magazine survey that "the average cost of a wedding average, mind you was closing in on $20,000. (That's counting the engageNOS LET US KNOW 'Struggling with choices in your company's benefits plans? To volunteer for a story, leave a message at (216) 999-5263. Your name will not be used without your permission.
ment ring but not the honeymoon.) Surveys like this are wild guesses, based on people who chose to reply who presumably told the truth. Other estimates I've seen come in several thousand dollars cheaper, but they don't include the same costs. Whatever the exact numbers, no doubt that weddings, like funerals a-lifetime and events, proms and produce other heavy once-in- pressure to spend lavishly. Whether the pressure comes from family or friends or businesses, the implication is that you have to pay a lot to make sure the is perfect. My wife's parents paid most of our wedding costs, and I'm grateful.
I'm sure the food was delicious and the band in tune. But I can't remember the Nice. and the only songs I remember for sure are "Daddy's Little Girl" and the "Hokey Pokey." (It's a pretty safe bet there was a "Chicken Dance" in there somewhere, too.) You can't be expected to think logically about such things if you're in the middle of planning, so today's column 34 is aimed more at friends and relatives. If you know someone who is preparing to sink into debt to buy memories, please try to talk them into more reasonable spending. If it's a wedding, you can even direct them to a woman who says her own "cost less than $1,000.
Rachel Shreckengast has a site on the Internet http://www.achiever.com/ with a link to another site that maintains a collection of her questions and r. answers on saving money. Whatever the event, please remind them that the memories they keep will not be the ones that cost the most. In fact, just a year later, they probably 1. won't remember a bit about the expensive items.
Well, except for the constant reminders they'll have. The ones called bills. To leave messages for Kroll, e-mail or call (216) 999- 5263. Please include name, city and phone number. MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1997.
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"You need to decide right now, today, how much of your money you want in the stock market," said Harold Evensky, a financial planner in Coral Gables, Fla. "Otherwise, you're going to end up doing what most people do, which is buying high and selling low." The keys to figuring out what percentage of your investments to put in stocks, bonds and cash are your time horizon and your tolerance for risk. You shouldn't put any money in stocks that. you're going to need in less than five years. Some experts would say 10.
That's because stock prices fluctuate wildly over short periods. You could go to get your money and find it's not all there. Bond values fluctuate, too, but generally far less than stocks. If you have at least five years, you need to assess your risk tolerance. Before you start that, make sure you understand the different kinds of risk.
Fluctua- tions in stock and bond prices are, one kind, but many people focus too much on; that and forget to consider Over 24 years, inflation at levels as low? as 3 percent a year will cause the value, of your money to fall by half. In other; words, your $10 restaurant meal likely, will cost $20 in 2021. You need inflation-beating returns for money invested over long time, such as retirement funds. How much to put in stocks? You have to figure that out for yours self. An aggressive investor in her early; 20s saving for retirement might be will ing to bet it all on stocks.
A more modern, ate investor of the same age might just 70 percent in stocks, with the rest in bonds. Someone who is 70 and retired, on the other hand, might put just 30 percent in stocks, with the rest in high-quality. bonds. Investment experts often recommend that you put a percentage of your portfos lio equal to your age in bonds and; the: rest in stocks. You should tailor that rule.
to your own situation. Within the stock portion of your portfolio, divvy up the dollars between foreign and U.S. equities and among large, medium and company stocks. Within the bond -por3 tion, choose some short-, intermediate- and long-term bonds. Let's say you've done that.
A crash; or a prolonged bear market, arrives. Your broker starts calling and telling your fo sell or buy more. What do you do? Ideally, you sit tight. SEE 3 3. Surviving when the market flat-lines A thorough understanding of risks, rewards will keep you on even By MIRIAM HILL PLAIN DEALER REPORTER David Wagner prospered in the last market crash.
He defied his anxiety. Not only did he hold onto the stocks he already owned through his retirement plan, he bought a few more. The bet paid off. One of his picks, General Electric has increased from $10.50 per share to more than $70, adjusted for splits, since Oct. 19, 1987.
The other, RPM is trading around $20, about 250 percent above its '87 crash value. So why is Wagner thinking about getting out of the market now? "Can it recur?" asked the principal at the Chartwell Group, a commercial realestate broker. He's been reading rumors that investment guru Warren Buffett LAS been shifting money to cash. Wagner could avoid a panic by shifting his money from stocks to cash in his retirement account without incurring a tax bill. So why not do it? Because it violates just about every rule of successful long-term investing, experts said.
No one has ever outguessed the market over the long run. Take your money out at the wrong time, and you're likely to miss out on a great bull run. On the other hand, bears do darken the stock market's door now and then, sometimes in far more menacing ways than in the crash of '87. The 23 percent drop Oct. 19 that year pales in comparison with the 50 percent drop in the value of blue-chip stocks during the 1973-74 market.
Try watching the value of your port- Investors are unrealistic about returns, survey finds BI.OOMBERG NEWS Since 1951, the benchmark Standard U.S. mutual fund investors are un- Poor's 500 index has risen at an anrealistically optimistic about the out- nual rate of about 12.5 percent. look for equity market returns, John Bogle, founder of Vanguard according to a survey by Montgomery Group, the nation's second-biggest Asset Management LLC. fund group, said it will become even Investors expect annual average re- more difficult for funds to generate turns of 34 percent for the next 10 high returns as assets continue to inyears, according to the report. The na- crease.
tionwide survey includes interviews with 750 mutual fund investors, the "If 'small is we aren't as San Francisco firm said. pretty as we once Bogle said. History suggests that U.S. equity U.S. eanity fund assets have ballooned market returns rarely average 34 per- to $4.2 trillion from $34 billion over cent for more than one or two years.
the past 20 years. MAKING SENSE PERSONAL TECH INSIDE you With know hundreds where of to mutual start? The fund Securities companies, and how do Invest A guide A Waiting Exchange Commission answers many questions in Wisely to affordable for new "An Introduction to Mutual Funds." For a free copy, call (719) 948-4000 and request 363D. scanners for Windows Chat Room, 5-C. your PC Free, fast information Call The Plain Dealer Quickline 999-5463 To hear today's financial news, dial Quickline then enter 1100 9 LARRY HAMEL-LAMBERT.
