One Way To Choose Between Mutual Funds

One Way To Choose Between Mutual Funds

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a magical way to invest the cash in your IRA or 401(k) and know the return you will get in advance? When it comes to equities, returns are extremely difficult to predict. That’s because returns on stocks or stock funds can vary widely from year to year. If…
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Five Tips on Supporting Your Boomerang Child

The Pew Research Center found that some 36% of all 18 to 31-year-olds were living at home with their parents in 2012.  As the parent of one such child I fully understand what life is like under those circumstances.  I want to offer a few financial planning tips to those of you who are in…
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Think Stocks Are Volatile? Look At REITs!

Equities are among the most growth-oriented investment assets from which you can choose.   Almost all well-diversified portfolios include some degree of investment in stocks of one kind or another.  What is less well-known is that there’s another asset class that has experienced explosive growth since 2009: publicly traded real estate investment trusts, or equity REITS. …
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Do You Really Know Your Investment Returns?

This blog is all about math.  No, wait, don’t leave.  It’s really about making sure you understand how to properly calculate the returns you get from your investments.  Because if you’re not getting the return you expect, you might be putting your future goals at risk. Most everybody is probably familiar with the concept of…
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How Safe Is Your IRA?

No, this blog is not about how the custodian holding your IRA investments protects itself against hackers.  Rather it’s about the legal protection your account offers against creditors.  Although most of you probably will never have to deal with irate business creditors, keep in mind that should you end up being among the large minority…
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Should You Dollar Hedge Your Foreign Bonds?

A well-diversified investment portfolio should include some investment in bonds issued by foreign governments or companies.  But it can be difficult (and expensive) to buy foreign bonds yourself.  And there’s an additional risk associated with bonds denominated in foreign currencies that you don’t face when investing in U.S. bonds, namely currency risk.  If the currency of…
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