It’s not surprising that mutual fund companies want you to max out your 401(k) plan contributions. The more you invest, the more fees they generate. Fidelity Investments is the biggest fund family in the 401(k) business. It wants you to invest as much as you can in its 401(k) plans—preferably in one of its funds. [...]
Thomas Jefferson got it partly right when he stated, in the opening lines of the United States Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” He should have included “women,” but I digress. Unlike all men and women, all money market funds are not created equal. It’s important that investors understand the differences. Let’s [...]
I have a low regard for the 401(k) system. It’s supposed to provide a tax-deferred way for plan participants to save for retirement. Instead, it is a trough from which advisers, brokerage firms, and mutual fund families feed, depleting returns by billions of dollars of obscene fees every year. And they’re the ones who are [...]
Few subjects in investing are more misunderstood than asset allocation. Brokers don’t like to talk about it. Instead, they entice their clients with stocks they believe will “take off” or fund managers they think are “hot.” Asset allocation refers to the division of your portfolio between various asset classes, like stocks and bonds. Maybe asset [...]
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are similar to index funds, except they can be traded like a stock on stock exchanges, and you must buy them through a brokerage firm. ETFs are required to maintain a 99 percent correlation to their designated benchmark. There are many different indexes used as benchmarks, so be sure to understand how [...]
Everyone knows that cash is king, right? Actually, holding cash can be very risky. Let me tell you why. I met with a prospective client who was recently widowed. She told me the stock market terrified her and she wanted to keep everything in cash. Her assets were in a six-month certificate of deposit earning [...]
Many couples believe in togetherness, which can be a good thing. However, there are dangers to investing jointly that should give even the closest duos pause. Remember the best-selling book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, by John Gray? The difference in the way men and women view the world has particular applicability [...]
Short selling stock-or borrowing shares of stock and promising to return them to their owner at a future date-is popular these days. After all, isn’t it clear that economic Armageddon is just around the corner? The government is printing money. Gold is at an all-time high. Major European countries are on the brink of defaulting [...]
Wouldn’t it be great if you knew when the markets were going to take off or tank? Armed with that knowledge, you’d have no trouble achieving your investment goals. You’d just buy if the markets were going up and sell if they were going down. Here’s the problem with that scenario: Market direction is driven [...]
Smart investing is not very difficult. It is in the interest of the securities industry to convince you otherwise so you will use its services. I have distilled intelligent investing and financial planning down to these ten golden rules. They are easy to understand and to implement. If everyone followed them, the misery index for [...]
