OK To Tap Your 401(k) For College Expenses?

OK To Tap Your 401(k) For College Expenses?

When it comes to their children, many parents take the view that supporting their kids is first priority.  That’s admirable from a family standpoint, but may not be optimal from a financial one.  And nowhere does this have bigger consequences than with college expenses.  A common question I encounter is whether or not it’s possible to…
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Will Future Returns Be Lower?

John Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Group Inc., said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Radio that he expects stock and bond returns to be significantly lower than they’ve been throughout his 87 year lifetime. Historically, according to Bogle, the average annual return for stocks has been about 12%, and for bonds it’s been around…
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Should You Avoid Bonds Right Now?

Oksana Aronov, a managing director at JPMorgan Chase, is recommending against investing in U.S. Treasuries right now, according to Bloomberg News.  Although the ten-year Treasury note is currently yielding 1.58% (at a time when equivalent Japanese and European Central Bank sovereign bonds have negative yields), its real yield (i.e. the yield after factoring in inflation)…
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Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword

The Orlando Sentinel reported that the Walt Disney Company retirement plan committee is facing a class-action lawsuit for offering the Sequoia Fund in its portfolio of investment choices for employees.  Why?  Because Sequoia lost 7.3% last year and is down over 13% this year, mostly due to one bad investment: Valeant Pharmaceuticals.  Over the last…
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Five Steps To Avoid Investment Advisor Fraud

This blog was prompted by an article in the SJ Mercury News reporting that Jake Peavy, the San Francisco Giants pitcher, had been defrauded out of more than $15M by Ash Narayan, a financial advisor with RGT Capital Management in Irvine, CA. According to the SEC lawsuit, Narayan had fraudulently shifted $33M from client accounts…
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Time To Worry About Underfunded Pensions?

I recently attended a seminar about public pension reform led by Chuck Reed, formerly mayor of San Jose and currently board member of the Retirement Security Initiative. As you probably recall, Reed led the effort to pass a pension reform measure for San Jose in 2012.  Here are some of the implications of the underfunded…
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