If I ever had any doubt that trying to outsmart the stock market was futile, a couple of statistics that I recently came across have confirmed my thinking.
One was an article in the Wall Street Journal that analyzed the performance of the most highly recommended stocks of ten years ago. AOL, Cisco Systems, Lucent, [...]
Posts under ‘Investment Portfolio’
Playing the Market
ETFs Explained
As I noted in a post from November, my husband and I are debating whether to go with a new financial planner. One that we recently contacted indicated in his marketing materials that he uses ETFs, or exchange-traded funds, with his clients. While I’ve heard of ETFs, I wasn’t exactly sure just how they worked, [...]
Finding a Financial Planner
Ever since our previous financial planner changed firms a couple of months ago, I’ve been debating how to proceed.
I could go the DIY route. Suze Orman, in this column, states that most people really don’t need a financial planner. And in fact, I did switch some of our money to a mix of low-cost [...]
Target-Date Funds: Good, Bad or Ugly?
When I was scoping out 529 plans for my kids, I noticed several target-date funds that I could invest in. These funds are designed to make saving for retirement or college easier. You plunk your money into the fund and let it know when you want to use the money. The fund managers will automatically [...]
Inflation and TIPS
Lately, I’ve been hearing more predictions that inflation is about to make a comeback, as this AP article from October discusses. The thinking is that the deficits Uncle Sam is carrying might raise prices down the road. Here’s why: the countries that currently invest in bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury – namely China – [...]
Value Averaging: What’s it All About?
If you’re like most investors, you’re probably familiar with the concept of dollar cost averaging: you invest the same amount at regular intervals, such as once a month. The theory behind it holds that by default, you end up buying fewer securities when prices are high, and more when they’re low. What’s more, it’s a [...]
Does Converting to a Roth IRA Make Sense?
If you’ve been hearing mumblings about the Roth IRA (Individual Retirement Account), but aren’t quite sure what the buzz is all about you’re not alone – nearly 90 percent of respondents to a recent survey by Fidelity Investments didn’t know about the upcoming opportunity to convert their current IRAs to Roth IRAs.
A Roth IRA differs [...]
Money Clubs
At various points in my life, I’ve been a member of running clubs, several book clubs and a bunco group. One club that I haven’t tried, but that sounds like a great idea, is a money club. As the title suggests, these are made of between about a half-dozen to a dozen individuals – usually [...]
Does Asset Allocation Still Make Sense?
Like most investors, I’ve taken it as article of faith that asset allocation, which the SEC describes as dividing an investment portfolio among different asset categories, such as stocks, bonds, and cash, is the way to go when investing for the long term. It’s basically applying the idea that you don’t want to put all [...]