Category Archives for Investment Advice
When Headlines Worry You, Bank on Investment Principles
On Friday, March 10, regulators took control of Silicon Valley Bank as a run on the bank unfolded. Two days later, regulators took control of a second lender, Signature Bank. With increasing anxiety, many
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401(k) Loan vs. Personal Loan – Which Should You Choose?
Individuals often need cash to pay for items like a down payment on a new home, unexpected medical bills, or just simply to consolidate debt. Two common options to shore up money are tapping your 401(k)
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Trust the Financial Advisor Who Trusts the Market
With over 200,000 financial advisors in the United States, how do you pick one?First, eliminate the stock pickers. Those are the people making predictions about which stocks are going to be winners and
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What’s Your True Net Worth?
Many apps today claim to instantly calculate your net worth by adding up your banking and investment accounts and then deducting what you owe on your credit cards and mortgage. But in my mind, that number
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Avoiding Financial Scams and Identity Theft Slams U.S. Quick-Reference
Who Are They? Financial fraudsters are after your assets.Identity thieves steal your personal information (often to then commit financial fraud). What Do They Want? Your Money and Your LifeSocial Security
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Time the Market at Your Peril
Technology enables immediate access to everything wherever and whenever we want it. In many cases, such as staying in touch with friends and family, or learning about world events, that’s a good thing.
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Which Country Will Outperform in 2023? Here’s Why It Shouldn’t Matter.
Investment opportunities exist all around the globe, but the randomness of global stock returns makes it exceedingly difficult to figure out which markets are likely to be outperformers. How should investors
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Two Steps Forward, One Step Back for Investors
Consider everything investors have been through in recent years: a global pandemic, rapid inflation, war in Europe, and volatile stock and bond markets. It’s reasonable to feel uneasy in the face of
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Don’t Buy High: Valentine’s Roses and Investing Lessons
In love as in finance, there is some value in being flexible. Buying high can cost you, whether you’re purchasing roses at their peak price on Valentine’s Day or buying stocks at the same time as
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People Have Memories. Markets Don’t.
One of the best things about markets is that they don’t have memories. They don’t remember what happened last week or last year. They don’t even remember what happened a minute ago. Prices change
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This Has Been a Test: Developing a Financial Plan You Can Stick With
Think back to December 2019. The economy was humming. Unemployment, interest rates, and inflation were at historically low levels. But then what happened?
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Avoid These Investing Mistakes to Reach Your Retirement Goals (Part 3)
While many rail against taxation as an unjust seizure of our money, I firmly hold that taxes (at reasonable levels) are a necessary evil. That’s how we fund things like our national defense, federal
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Avoid These Investing Mistakes to Reach Your Retirement Goals (Part 2)
Most American workers have access to an employer 401(k) or 403(b) plan, and most employers offer a match for employee contributions.
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Avoid These Investing Mistakes to Reach Your Retirement Goals (Part 1)
Have you started thinking about retirement and begun to worry about what life in retirement will be like if you don’t build a whopping big nest egg?
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What is Portfolio Construction?
An investment portfolio should be built based on a client’s risk and return objectives along with an assessment of their constraints. While downside protection is a common focus, the advisor must ensure
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How Much Money Makes You Wealthy, Wealthier, or Wealthiest?
Sure, having such a high income means you can afford to buy a lot of things. More importantly for our purpose here, it means you can save and invest a lot, which lets you build wealth far more easily than
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Pursuing a Better Investment Experience (Part 5)
Welcome to the pursuing a better investment experience series. We are going to review two topic points regarding market headlines and what you can control, let’s get started.
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Pursuing a Better Investment Experience (Part 4)
Welcome to the pursuing a better investment experience series. We are going to review two topic points regarding market timing and emotions, let’s get started. The First Point – Avoid
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Pursuing a Better Investment Experience (Part 3)
Welcome to the pursuing a better investment experience series. We are going to review two topic points regarding market returns and diversification, let’s get started. The First Point
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Pursuing a Better Investment Experience (Part 2)
Welcome to the pursuing a better investment experience series. We are going to review two topic points regarding market performance facts, let’s get started. The First Point –
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Pursuing a Better Investment Experience (Part 1)
Welcome to the pursuing a better investment experience series. We are going to review two topic points regarding market facts, let’s get started. The First Point – Embrace Market
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Rising Rates: Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain?
Investors have likely noticed the improved opportunity set in fixed income due to higher yields. And yet some investors may be hesitant to take advantage of higher yields because of concerns about
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What is Sudden Wealth Syndrome?
C’mon, admit it… Even if you’re super savvy financially, I’m sure you’ve occasionally bought a lottery ticket (or several). I know I have, when the jackpot is so astronomically high that it more
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Market Timing Traps and Temptations
Decades of tracking and analyzing investment portfolio returns keep telling the same story., market timing behaviors are traps. Even though we should know it was just dumb luck, can we get a round of applause
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The ABCs of Behavioral Biases – Conclusion
We’ll wrap our series, the ABCs of Behavioral Biases, by repeating our initial premise: Your own behavioral biases are often the greatest threat to your financial well-being. We hope we’ve demonstrated
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Ideal Investment Portfolio Management: Principle 10 in Evidence-Based Investing
We wrap our 10-part series on the principles of evidence-based investing with how a fiduciary financial advisor can add value to your investment portfolio management. Most importantly, by combining financial
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Six Hacks for Maintaining Investment Discipline: Principle 9 in Evidence-Based Investing
Investment discipline is all about being able to see past the daily market distractions to maintain a long-term perspective. A big challenge here is knowing how to identify and ignore your own emotional
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Emotional Investing Is Risky Investing: Principle 8 in Evidence-Based Investing
Many people struggle with emotional investing. That is, they find it difficult to make consistent, rational investment decisions, instead of reacting to current market conditions out of fear, excitement,
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Why Stick with a Globally Diversified Portfolio? Principle 7 in Evidence-Based Investing
Why buy and hold a globally diversified portfolio instead of reacting to breaking news? Political, social, and economic headlines come and go. But you never know which market segments will outperform from
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Diversify Your Investment Universe: Principle 6 in Evidence-Based Investing
Holding securities across many market segments, expanding your investment universe, can help manage overall risk. But diversifying within your home market may not be enough. Global diversification can
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