What is the Purpose of Indexes and Index Funds? (Part II)

Investment Advice

A Few Points About Index Points As we covered in our last piece, indexes have their uses. They can roughly gauge the mood of a market and its participants. If you’ve got an investment strategy that’s

What is the Purpose of Indexes and Index Funds?

Investment Advice

This post, Indexes Defined, is the first in a series of four designed to give you a clearer understanding of indexes and index funds and their uses. Since nearly every media outlet on the planet reported

Make the Most of Spousal and Survivor Benefits from Social Security

Financial Education & News Retirement Advice

Even after the crackdown, special rules can pay off handsomely for husbands and wives as survivor benefits come into play. Social Security smiles on married couples, with special rules that can richly

How to Save Taxes in Retirement

Retirement Advice Tax Focused Planning

When you take money from savings for retirement, you’re generally advised to tap taxable accounts first, then tax-deferred retirement accounts, and finally your Roth IRA. Here’s why: If you hold an

Mean Reversion in Expected Stock Returns a.k.a. Market Timing

Financial Education & News

This study looks for evidence of mean reversion in the equity, profitability, size, and value premiums. Regressions test for statistical evidence of mean reversion, and trading simulations examine whether

Investment Shock Absorbers

Investment Advice

Ever ridden in a car with worn-out shock absorbers? Every bump is jarring, every corner stomach-churning, and every red light an excuse to assume the brace position. Owning an undiversified portfolio can

Taxes Never Retire, but Benefits Escape

Retirement Advice Tax Focused Planning

Congress’s complicated rules for the taxation of Social Security benefits open the door to opportunities to save. It used to be so simple. From the time the first checks were issued in 1937 through the

The Truth About the Earnings Test

Retirement Advice

You need to know how continuing to work will affect your benefits. The good news is that the reality isn’t nearly as nefarious as critics complain. It sounds like a cruel joke: After a lifetime of working,

Portfolio Diversity Creates the Most Beautiful Music

Investment Advice

As US stocks have outperformed developed ex US and emerging markets stocks over the last few years, some investors might consider reevaluating the benefits of investing outside the US. From January 1,

Smart Social Security Strategies for Married Couples

Retirement Advice

Figuring out the best time to file for your Social Security benefits can be surprisingly simple or hellishly complex. If you’re retired—voluntarily or not—and need the money to live on, you may have

Did Your Market Timing Broker Disappoint You?

Financial Education & News

Every year brings its share of surprises. But how many of us could have imagined that 2016 would see the Chicago Cubs win the World Series, Bob Dylan receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, Donald Trump

The Power of Markets

Investment Advice

The mundane pencil—and the ability to purchase it for a “trifling” sum—is the result of an extraordinary process driven by the knowledge of market participants and the power of market prices.

Structured CDs: Buyer Beware!

Investing Resources Retirement Advice

Most investors are familiar with Certificates of Deposit (CDs). You purchase one, and the bank pays you a bit of interest on it, plus your principal back. They don’t yield much, but they’re nearly

Parenting Your Wealth in Uncertain Markets

Investment Advice

In the face of political drama at home and abroad, it’s certainly been a summer for trying our patience, hasn’t it? For anyone who has ever been a parent or a child – that is, for everyone – there

Reflections on Real Estate Investing

Investment Advice

Just as the natural world around us comes from the elements found in the periodic table of elements, capital markets are made up of asset classes, broadly organized into stocks, bonds, and hard assets

Start a New Tradition: Family Wealth Planning Conversations

Investment Advice Retirement Advice

Whether it’s gathering for an annual reunion, recounting an anecdote about quirky Uncle Jim, or simply being there for one another during difficult times, family traditions are the comfort food that

What To Do in Lieu of Chasing Yield

Investment Advice

With a total-return approach, we typically want you to reserve your fixed income/bond investments for their primary purpose in life, which is to provide a stabilizing counterbalance to your equity/stock

Is It You Versus The Federal Reserve?

Investment Advice

Since December 2008, the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) has held the federal funds rate at zero percent, seeking to bolster an ailing economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession. Economists agree that