Surprisingly, Michael Phelps only placed third in one of last week’s Olympic trials. Will you be just as shocked if your plan’s mutual funds don’t end up rating a gold or silver with Morningstar’s new forward-looking mutual fund ratings? Continue reading “Are Your Plan’s Mutual Funds Olympic Medal Material?”
My kids absolutely LOVE bottled water. I remember that when bottled water first came into the public eye, my friends & I laughed and said that if we came up with catchy packaging, a cool name, and maybe even a slogan that sounds like we care about something, we could make millions of dollars selling regular tap water to people who are far too easily separated from their hard earned dollars. Little did we know that we underestimated how much money we could make big time!!!! It’s not MILLIONS, it’s BILLIONS…per month!!! Continue reading “Do You Know What’s Really in Your Water Bottle…or Your Portfolio?”
Some of the most common questions that I’ve been receiving from employees during recent retirement planning workshops relate to confusion around the proper use of target-date funds. Ironically, these investment options are designed to simplify rather than complicate the process of saving for retirement. When used correctly, target date funds can help employees allocate and re-balance their investment assets appropriately to achieve their retirement goals with one stop diversification. In fact, more than three-quarters of all 401(k) plans now offer target-date fund options for plan participants and in many plans, they serve as the default investment for automatic enrollment. Continue reading “What Your Employees Don’t Know About Target Date Funds Could Hurt Them”
No, it’s not because I’m a Facebook hater. In fact, I think I’m one of the few Facebook users who actually really likes Facebook (yes, even the timeline). I wish I could say that I anticipated the company’s weakened growth forecast but it’s not that either. Nor is it because I necessarily think that the growing shift to mobile will turn Facebook into the next MySpace. The reason I didn’t buy Facebook stock is because I simply don’t buy any individual stocks. Period. Continue reading “Why I Didn’t Invest in Facebook”
After my stepfather passed away, my mom started working with a local bank to manage her investments. At the time, I was living in California and it was difficult for me to help her with investment decisions. Plus, I had always warned my clients that allowing family members to get involved in your investments was a bad idea because you could always fire a stranger but you can never fire a member of the family. It was with this in mind that I allowed her to continue this relationship despite my occupation as a financial planner. Continue reading “When Enough is Enough”
If you’re like most people, you may not know much about investing or quite frankly, even care to know. Perhaps you’re only vaguely aware of what’s going on in the stock market and rarely look at your 401(k) performance. The last thing you want to worry about is researching and monitoring mutual funds. Yet, you’re responsible for choosing and managing the investments that will help determine whether you can retire early or end up having to eat cat food in your retirement. Continue reading “Investing for People Who Hate Investing”
When it comes to investment planning, sometimes it pays to get a little help (or at least a second opinion). But what are the best options for providing guidance to employees and how does online advice fit into the mix? Retirement plan participants have a variety of options available when seeking help regarding their investment selections. Professionally managed accounts, target-date mutual funds, online advice, and the use of financial advisors outside the retirement plan are some of the most common sources of investment guidance employees typically utilize. While these tools are proven to be effective, there is still a need to increase usage rates in order to improve the confidence employees feel relating to the way their investments are allocated. Continue reading “Do Employees Need (or Even Want) Help with Asset Allocation Decisions?”
A friend of mine posted this comment on Facebook last week “Yeah! The market is up 345 points! Finally it is going in the right direction.” Well, I was NOT happy at all to hear this news. You see, that day (Thursday October 27th) was the day our company made its annual contribution for all of our employees – the employer matching contributions to everyone’s 401(k). I was certainly happy to receive a company contribution but not so happy about the timing. Because mutual funds pick up the end of day pricing, that means everyone in our company received a contribution to their 401(k) AFTER the market went up that day. If the contribution had been made a day earlier, all of us who invest in stock funds would have been over three percent richer. Continue reading “A Bear Market is Your Friend”
