The percentage of 401(k) plans that offer target-date funds increased from 57% in 2006 to about 75% last year, with 39% of participants actively invested in the funds, according to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Investment Company Institute. A target-date fund is a fund of funds that assumes you will…
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Crowdfunding (also known as crowd financing) describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.  Originally used to support microfinance, non-profit organizations, and aspiring artists, crowdfunding became a source of funding for new businesses after the passage of the…
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There are many indicators that provide clues as to the future performance of one or more capital market asset classes.  Unfortunately none are perfect, otherwise 2008 might not have turned out so ugly.  Today I’d like to explain two useful indicators that bond investors would do well to heed: LIBOR and the TED spread. LIBOR,…
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Jason Zweig, the noted Wall Street Journal columnist, noted recently that between the first and second quarters of 2012, the Federal Reserve’s measure of margin loans at brokerage firms rose 9%, to $161.8 billion, the highest level in nearly four years.  The high-water mark was $386 billion in August 2008—two weeks before the collapse of…
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