Posted July 21, 2008 3:19 PM
When times are tough, some investors are likely to double their bets, meaning they will convince themselves that now is the perfect time to invest huge sums of money, because things can’t get much worse.
Even casual readers of this column know we don’t believe in market timing in any form, and that includes dollar cost averaging. When you have the money to invest, “invest it” is one of our most fundamental beliefs.
Here are a couple of others rules that have served in good times and bad:
Read more…
Posted July 18, 2008 10:00 AM
One of the most depressing moments in your life is when you are trying to figure out how much money you are going to need for retirement and realize if you keep doing things as you are, you are going to have a (substantial) shortfall.
A key reason you may be coming up short is that you owe too much money. Read more…
Posted July 15, 2008 4:18 PM
Okay, so we don’t have much of a life. We have been hearing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission talk seemingly forever about the need for financial information to be written in plain English. And for almost as long, we have heard people on Wall Street say they are going to comply. Since we are naturally curious—and since we don’t have anything better to do—we figured we’d cruise through a handful of prospectuses, to see if they have heeded the call. Read more…
Posted July 08, 2008 1:24 PM
When people—especially baby boomers—start to get serious about retirement planning, they are often shocked and dismayed because they haven’t saved enough money. They realize the $50,000 the typical baby boomer has saved by age 50 won’t go very far once they stop work. Based on a retirement age of 65, they won’t have enough money to live comfortably. Read more…
Posted July 08, 2008 7:21 AM
One reason baby boomers are in such horrible shape when it comes to preparing for retirement is that they are thinking traditionally.
Most still think that they will retire at age 65 and never work again. That was fine for our parents who married young, had their kids right away and stayed with a firm long enough to get not only a gold watch, but a real, honest-to-goodness pension. Read more…
An Introduction of Sorts to What we Will be Doing Together
Let’s start with a pop quiz. (Don’t worry. We won’t be grading it.) Which of the following people is a financial success:
A. Mr. Apple who has all the money he needs, thanks to his stock picking prowess.
B. Ms. Blue, who is currently living the way she wants—writing columns for an on-line company that doesn’t pay much—thanks to the current income being generated by her bond portfolio. Read more…
See Also: assets, finances, money, portfolio