My Comments: If you believe, as I do, that some of your money needs to be working harder than, say a Certificate of Deposit, then your likely solution is some kind of mutual fund or brokerage account. Most of us are not sufficiently sophisticated financially to explore other options, so for new, let’s assume you …
Tag: investment advice
How to Invest in Mutual Funds
My Comments: Mutual funds have been around for about 100 years. Some genius decided to create a new investment model, a stand alone investment. With one investment you now could own shares of hundreds of stocks, in smaller amounts. And the rest is history. Today there are more funds to choose from than you can …
What John Oliver Got Right (and Wrong) About the DOL Fiduciary Rule
My Comments: The financial services industry is starting to come to terms with what is known as the DOL Fiduciary Rule. Some of us embrace this new standard and others think the world is about to end. In short, it institutionalizes the idea that if you are providing financial advice to the consuming public, you …
Continue reading What John Oliver Got Right (and Wrong) About the DOL Fiduciary Rule
The Next Bear Market Will Be Ruthless
My Comments: This might put you to sleep. Or the next bear market might cause you to leap from a tall building. You choose. If you have money invested in the markets, and your time horizon for a full recovery is limited, you should read this to the end. by Eric Parnell, CFA, June …
How to Trump-proof Your Portfolio
My Comments: This is not intended as a political statement. However, clients are asking me whether there are likely to be economic consequences, and therefore an impact on their investment portfolios, if Donald Trump wins the Presidency. These comments appeared in The Financial Times and may or may not apply to you. Gillian Tett – …
How Much Stock Should You Have in Your Retirement Accounts?
My Comments: This question has been asked every years for the almost 30 years that I’ve called myself a financial professional. Unfortunately, there is no best answer. Human nature, in the form of doubts, confidence, expectations, past experience, impatience, timing and fear, all conspire to force our hand when attempting to make intelligent decisions. Good …
Continue reading How Much Stock Should You Have in Your Retirement Accounts?
Top 10 Phrases from Bank Lobbyists and their Translation
My Comments: On April 6, 2016, rules were introduced into the US financial system that will cause more of us to treat our clients better. At least that’s the plan. Wall Street firms have been resisting this change for years, and while the following Top 10 Reasons Why are tongue in cheek, there’s a whole …
Continue reading Top 10 Phrases from Bank Lobbyists and their Translation
Is Your House A Good Investment?
My Comments: My first house was in 1967 (I think). Since then I've had five more, all in the same town, with the current one a significant “downsizing” from #5. Of the first 5, only #2 was a good investment from a financial perspective. If your definition of “good” is wider, then all of them …
Prepare For A ‘Rockier Road Ahead’
My Comments: Investing money for the faint of heart is at best, a guessing game. Too much in ‘safe’ bonds and you get hammered when interest rates rise. Too little in ‘risky’ stocks at the bottom of a market trough and you get hammered when the next upturn happens. As explained here, the ups and …
The Biggest Force Powering The Stock Market Is Starting To Disappear
My Comments: This is important if your financial future depends to some degree on retirement accounts that include investments in the stock and bond markets. If you think the turmoil is going to end soon, you should perhaps think again. Bob Bryan March 11, 2016 Since the beginning of the post-crisis bull-market run (2009), the …
Continue reading The Biggest Force Powering The Stock Market Is Starting To Disappear
Helping Define Your Financial Future 