I was speaking with my friend Lisa the other day.  She was upset that she had not gotten a better return on her investments in 2017.  “Apple [stock] was up over 40%,” she complained, “but I only got 13%.”  Ironically, this was the very same person who was panicking in 2009 about the 25% loss…
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As a follow up to my post a couple of weeks ago on the three biggest Bitcoin myths (see https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2017/12/15/the-three-biggest-bitcoin-myths/), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just warned investors about one more risk of which they need to be cognizant. Myth #4: Investing in Bitcoins is safe. The SEC last week recommended that investors…
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When the value of an investment suddenly soars, or collapses, it tends to get a lot of media coverage.  In 2017 that investment has been Bitcoin.  It started the year priced at $978, and as of the date of this writing is valued at more than $17,000.  That’s an increase of over 1600% in less…
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As interest rates continue to hover at historical lows, many people (including some investment advisors) express concerns about investing in fixed income mutual funds.  The issue – for those who are not familiar with bonds – is that when rates rise, bond prices fall, and vice-versa.  The fear is that bond funds, which hold numerous…
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Ben Graham, mentor of Warren Buffett, is commonly credited as the father of value investing.  His book The Intelligent Investor, first written in 1949, promotes the idea of investing only in companies with a high ratio of book value to market value.  That is, companies whose total net asset value (the value of all assets…
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