Most bond investors know that there is an inverse relationship between their bond investments and interest rates. When rates drop, the value of bonds tends to rise. And vice versa. And as most people also know, for the past few years the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates artificially low in order to stimulate the […]
Planning is a given in my business. It’s what I do. Most of the time that planning revolves around investments, which has been my focus for 30-plus years. But investing isn’t the only thing that requires planning. Other aspects of life can affect us not only financially but personally too. And it’s good to be […]
Imagine your investment accounts being supervised entirely by automation. Instead of meeting with a financial advisor to review your investment strategy, you sit in front of your computer and answer a few questions about yourself. Then, you link your financial accounts to the system. A bunch of snazzy pie charts and bar charts appear on […]
Two weeks ago the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, made news when it announced that they can see the day when they will likely begin tapering off their bond-buying program, and ultimately ending it. This strategy, known as Quantitative Easing, or QE3, is an economic stimulus program intended to keep interest […]
One of the consequences of the incredibly low interest rate environment we have today is that it’s harder and harder to make money on any type of savings and fixed-income investments. Historically, things like bank savings accounts and CDs have not earned returns as high as long-term investments like bonds and stocks. But even with […]
Investing can sometimes be a painful process. We see the positive long term numbers and wish that the trend line was a nice, steady, upward slope. But that’s not the way investing works — never has been. A 12% annual return rarely means a 1% rise every month for 12 months. It simply doesn’t work […]
A few weeks before the presidential election, my friend Ted sent me a link to a YouTube video that had a strong political bias. Since I’d never known Ted to be a particularly political guy, I started watching out of curiosity just to see what he’d found so intriguing. The gist of the video was […]
In October of last year, I wrote an article on the municipal bond market. The gist of the article, which can be read in full here, was that a CBS 60 Minutes segment in December of 2010 had put fear into many muni investors. Stepping back and looking objectively at the market could well have […]
When it comes to saving for a child’s college education, I know two things: It’s bloody difficult to pay for college. It’s just ridiculously expensive, and one ought to start saving for it right away, the sooner the better. Anytime you saved in the past you had to deal with taxes. So, how would you […]
This failure is significant considering how fast college costs have been increasing of late. According to The Wall Street Journal (“Making 529 Plans Work,” February 11, 2012), college costs soar well above inflation, with state schools raising tuition and fees even faster than private ones. Costs at four-year public institutions jumped 8.3% in 2011-12 to […]