Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve written about the advantages of investing in individual stocks and some tools to make the process simpler and easier. However, most people don’t invest directly in individual stocks. After all, it’s more time consuming and is generally not available in the employer-sponsored plans like 401(k)s that people generally do the bulk of their investing in. Continue reading “How to Invest in Mutual Funds”
One of the most common questions I get asked is how to divide your money between different types of investments. You’ve probably heard that 90% of investment returns can be explained by your asset allocation or how you divide your money between stocks, bonds, and cash. The problem is that asset allocation guidelines can vary dramatically based on where you look. So how do you decide? Continue reading “The 5 Things That Really Matter When It Comes to Investing”
A friend of mine recently asked me what I thought of a site called Motif Investing. The idea of the site is that it allows you to buy a basket of up to 30 stocks or ETFs based on an idea or “motif.” Some popular examples are stocks benefiting from things like the rise of 3D printing or biotechnology, stocks that have recently suffered a sharp decline, or stocks with good dividend payouts. The weighting of each motif can be customized and individual stocks or ETFs can even be removed. It costs $9.95 to purchase, sell, or re-balance each motif. So is this a good way to invest in stocks? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons: Continue reading “Should You Invest in a “Motif?””
With some of the recent stock market volatility, a common question seems to be emerging from the employees I speak to in workshops, webcasts, and consultations: where is the best place to invest these days? Believe it or not, even as a financial professional who has been in the industry for nearly 19 years, I still don’t know the answer to that question. The truth is, like many of you, I’ve had my share of good investment decisions and bad ones. What I can tell you is that we learn from experience so allow me to share my experiences with you in the hope that you don’t repeat my bad decisions and perhaps follow in my good ones instead. Continue reading “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Best & Worst Investment Decisions I’ve Ever Made”
When people call our financial helpline or schedule a one-on-one consultation, they usually have a particular problem or goal in mind. It might be getting out of debt, knowing whether they’re on track for retirement, or dealing with a thorny tax issue. But sometimes we have people that seem to be doing all the right things. They have no high-interest debt. They have more than adequate savings for emergencies. They’re saving enough for retirement. They just want to know what they might be missing. Here are the most common holes in people’s financial plans: Continue reading “What’s Probably Missing From Your Financial Plan”
The fiscal cliff may be resolved but the deal only makes our “national debt cliff” even bigger. While we all hope our politicians can find a way to implement the necessary changes to reduce our national deficit AND national debt, we all must be prepared for how these changes will affect our lives. It’s been said that if we don’t learn from history, then we are destined to repeat it. We should not let the valuable lessons of our most recent recession and now current financial pickle go unlearned. These are some steps I encourage you to consider taking as a way to prepare for what lies ahead, no matter how things unfold: Continue reading “Preparing For the Next “Fiscal Cliff””
Recently, I had the opportunity to have a series of one-on-one meetings with employees called Ask-a-Planner sessions where the employees could ask me any question on any financial topic they wanted. Fortunately, they didn’t “stump the planner!” Many people used their time as an opportunity to have me review their allocation in their 401(k). While most of them had an asset allocation that was a fit for them, some of the statements had huge rookie mistake red flags that I’d seen before. Continue reading “Three Investment Mistakes the Trained Eye Can Spot”
Within the last 24 hours, I watched a presidential debate and saw endless news footage of an Italian cruise ship sinking. As a guy who lived on a boat for a few years, I couldn’t help but read everything I could find about the cruise ship, the captain, and the circumstances surrounding this tragedy. As a political geek, I couldn’t help but watch yet another debate with an ever narrowing field of candidates. My only regret this political season is that there are only debates for the Republicans. During the last election cycle we had them for both parties, and for me that was a wonderful thing. But, that’s not what I ‘m writing about today. Continue reading “Investing Lessons From Mitt Romney and the Italian Cruise Ship Tragedy”
