From time to time this question comes up: why can’t I use my IRA account to purchase a retirement home? After all, for many folks, the IRA represents a pretty large account, possibly even enough to purchase a retirement home outright – so why not?
No Personal Use
This is a thorny question, because there are lots [...]
Posts under ‘investing’
Real Estate Investing in Your IRA
Index Funds: The Oatmeal of the Investing World
We know it almost instinctively, from all the information we’ve seen about it: oatmeal is good for you. For cryin’ out loud, Wilford Brimley made a living telling us “It’s the right thing to do, and a tasty way to do it.” But in general, most folks look at oatmeal as a bland, tasteless, boring [...]
Roth Conversion – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
It is expected that in 2010 there will be more Roth IRA conversions than in any year in the past – maybe all years added together. With all this converting and cavorting going on around IRAs and Roth IRAs, there are bound to be some problems arise.
One particular type of problem that could arise would [...]
Bonds and Bond Funds
There is a question that often comes up when discussing investment strategies, especially for an astute investor who has done some research on various kinds of investments. Specifically the question often is: why would we choose a bond fund or a bond index fund versus purchasing a specific bond (or several bonds)?
Bonds in General
To answer [...]
Three Reasons You May Not Want to Convert to a Roth IRA
There’s been a lot (I mean a LOT!) of press surrounding the coming “opening of the floodgates” for Roth IRA conversions. You only have to glance through the headlines lately to see wild cries about the coming tsunami of Roth conversions beginning with 2010. Personally I think that, while there will likely be more [...]
Why Most People Are So Bad At Stock Picking (and what does Howie Mandel have to do with it?)
You know the TV show “Deal or No Deal”, right? If you aren’t familiar with it, here’s a basic rundown of the premise: the contestant is faced with 26 briefcases, each with a dollar amount inside, ranging from one penny up to one million dollars. At the beginning of the show, the contestant chooses one [...]
What Can a Broker Do For You?
You have choices when it comes to investing. You can go directly to a mutual fund company (such as Vanguard or T. Rowe Price) and choose investments yourself, or you can use a fee-only financial advisor to assist you in choosing investments. But by far the most common method is to work with a broker. [...]
Why We Use Timber in an Investment Portfolio
Continuing with the series we started some months ago, today we’ll talk about why Timber is a viable and important asset class to include in your portfolio. If you’ll recall, in previous discussions we talked about Real Estate as an asset class, and then we discussed the merits of Commodities as a broad asset class [...]
Things I Have in Common With Scott Adams…
Apparently Scott Adams must read this blog… or maybe it’s just a coincidence how closely his strip from the other day reflects my comments in this entry from last week:
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Great minds think alike, I guess!
Why is Index Investing a “No Brainer”?
For those of you who have read much of my writing on the subject, you’ll recall that I always recommend working with index investments when we have them available. In this article I will do my best to help you understand some of the reasons why I make that recommendation.
What is Index Investing?
In order to [...]
