Are you paying your broker or the manager of your actively-managed mutual fund to generate a higher return for you than you think you can get from lower-cost passively-managed index funds?  According to Larry Swedroe and Andrew Berkin, authors of a new book entitled “The Incredible Shrinking Alpha,” you’re wasting your money. The term alpha…
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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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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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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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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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