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investing

The day I was asked if I buy and sell gold

Just a couple reasons why I don’t deal in gold. If someone else chooses to buy and sell gold, more power to them, but it’s not for me.

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. One of the most common methods is to work with a broker. Brokers are companies like Edward Jones, plus many, many other companies, including insurance company brokerage divisions, banks, and the like. What’s the Difference? You’re probably wondering – what’s the difference between a broker and, for example, a fee-only advisor? You’re right to be confused, because until you start working with one or the other and you know what the difference is, they look pretty much the same from the outside. Here’s the difference: Brokers are salesmen. It is their job to sell you an investment product, and that’s how the broker gets paid. They are required […]

The Net Investment Income Tax and How to Avoid It

The Net Investment Income Tax of 3.8% can reduce your overall investment income. This article explains the tax and how to avoid or limit the exposure.

Beyond 401(k) and IRA

You’re contributing as much as you’re allowed to a 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan. If your income allows it, you’re also contributing the maximum annual amount to your Roth or traditional IRA. But you still want to set aside more money beyond 401(k) and IRA, to make sure your retirement is everything you hoped for. What options do you have? Here are some things to consider… Before moving beyond – are you really maxing our your 401(k) and IRA? IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans like 401(k)s have some real advantages when it comes to saving for your retirement. So, before you go any further, make sure you’re really contributing all you can. In 2020, most individuals can contribute up to $19,500 to a 401(k) plan, and up to $6,000 to a traditional or Roth IRA (subject to income limitations). If you’re age 50 or better, though, you can make […]

Three Reasons You May Not Want to Convert to a Roth IRA

In today’s historically-low tax rate environment, converting money from traditional IRAs to Roth can make sense, but not always. Keep your eyes open.

Noise

Every day we are bombarded with information. It can be difficult to wade through this sea of data and pick out the material that means anything to us. Of course, it doesn’t help that the existence of 24-hour news channels, social media outlets, and the scuttlebutt around the water cooler make it difficult to avoid. So how do we filter all the noise and get only the information we really need? I’ll offer a few suggestions that have worked for me. Perhaps they can help you. Turn off the news. This was one of the biggest mood lifters and time savers that helped me. I made this decision about 4 months ago and decided to make a conscious effort to not watch the morning and evening news. I also cancelled my newspaper subscription (it wasn’t that great anyway). Consider reducing or elimination your social media usage. This can be hard […]

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 generally 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 recommend index investing. What is Index Investing? In order to understand why index investing is a good option, I need to explain first what I mean by an index. In general, an index investment is a representative investment covering a market, sector, or asset class. The S&P 500 is an index for example, representing the asset class of the 500 largest publicly-traded companies in the US marketplace. The Vanguard Total Market Index is an index that represents the entire spectrum of domestic (US) publicly-traded companies. There are many other examples, including the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Market Index (all publicly-traded bonds in the […]

You’re Not (necessarily) In Control

You may think you’ve got control over your 401k account. But it’s not necessarily so – your employer can make changes that affect your results.

Hidden Costs to 401k Plans and Who Pays These Fees

There are hidden fees in your 401k plan – and these fees can have a significant impact on your long-term results. Find out how to reduce these fees.

The Granddaddy of ’em All: Keogh Plans

When it comes to retirement plans, one of the earliest of all kinds of plans is the Keogh. This article explains a Keogh plan and how it’s used.

Why We Include Real Estate in Investment Portfolios

A properly-diversified investment portfolio should include real estate in addition to the typical stocks and bonds. Do you know why?

Problems and (proposed) Solutions for 401k Plan

The 401k plan takes the blame much of the time for the problems individual investors are facing. But maybe adjusting the 401k plan is the real

The Equity-Indexed Annuity

Any time there’s a down market going on, you’re more likely to get a sales pitch for an equity-indexed annuity. There can be upsides, but mostly downsides.

Can You Beat the Market?

In investing and finance, the words “beat the market” appear from time to time either as part of an investment strategy, conversation, or a combination of both. Investors can often be lured by the phrase in the hopes of achieving returns superior than the market or “above average”. When we refer to the market, we’re generally referring to a benchmark such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (The Dow) or the S&P 500. First off, I’d like to offer a bit of clarity before attempting to answer the titular question. If fact, I’d like to ask two questions and answer both – because they will have different answers, even though they look similar. First, I think it’s appropriate to ask this question: Can the market be beaten? To which I answer, yes. The market can be beat, and there are times where certain investments have done better than the market. […]

Index Funds: The Oatmeal of the Investing World

Index funds are similar to oatmeal – providing the essentials that we need, with low costs and no frills. And they’re surprisingly do-it-yourself!

Why Inactivity Can Be Your Best Friend

When most of us think about the word inactive, we may think negatively – such as lounging around on the couch, being lazy, or apathetic to a given situation. Most of us feel the need to be active to promote a healthy lifestyle through exercise, perform optimally at our job, or being involved with our family. In many cases, this is valid. There is one area where inactivity can be beneficial. When it comes to investing, doing less can help us achieve the expected return we need on our portfolios, while keeping expenses as low as possible. For many of us, this seems counterintuitive. Many of us can’t help but to do something, anything. Some of us may feel that if we are in control of our investments, we can impact their performance. But the truth is for most us, we are not in control. We cannot control the markets. […]

Volatility is a Two-Way Street

In many cases, whenever we think of volatility we think negatively. Try it yourself. Think of the word volatility and say it out loud. What thoughts, words, or images pop into your head? Bad news? Market losses? Losing money? The color red? The point is that we tend to give volatility a bad rap – and rightfully so. Generally, the word is thrown at us during periods of when the market, and our investments, lose value. Volatility, however, works both ways. It’s also present when the market and our investments are doing well. We just don’t call it volatility. We call it returns, gains, appreciation, a bull market, etc. The point is to expect volatility – good or bad. It’s part of investing in capital markets. We need to understand that just because our portfolios are doing well – doesn’t mean volatility is absent. Volatility is what helps produce long-term […]

5 No-No’s for IRA Investing

It is generally well-known that in an IRA account you have a wide range of investment choices. These choices are typically only limited by the custodian’s available investment options.  However, there are specific prohibited transactions that cannot be accomplished with IRA funds. Often these prohibited transactions can cause your IRA to be disqualified, which can result in significant tax and penalty, along with loss of the tax-favored status of the funds. What’s Not Allowed for IRA Accounts? Self-Dealing.  You are not allowed, within your IRA, to make investments in property which benefits you or another disqualified person.  A disqualified person includes your fiduciary advisor and any member of your family, whether an ancestor, spouse, lineal descendant (child) or spouse of a lineal descendant.  It is important to note that this limit applies to both present and future use of a property. So if you purchased a condo and rented it […]

Sorry to Rain on your Parade

I wanted to take a brief moment to remind our readers of a fundamental investing truth that tends to get overlooked, forgotten, or deliberately disregarded during times of market euphoria. Think about this. If you had a million dollars at the beginning of 2016 to invest and I said that over the year that there would be a Supreme Court vacancy, the Cubs would win the World Series, interest rates would rise, and Donald Trump would become president – would you invest that million dollars in the market? I would bet that many people would not. They would guess that 2016 would be a dismal year for market returns. Yet, in 2016 the Dow returns 13.4% and the S&P 500 returned 9.5%! With all of that uncertainty and the improbable happening, the market still had a great year of returns. Those who stayed invested were rewarded. Those who sold (say, […]