Author Archives: David
How To Build Your Financial Dream Team
How To Build Your Financial Dream Team
A nice article in the WSJ’s “Weekend Investor” column about how to build a team of professionals to help you keep your financial house in order — starting with your financial advisor (with mentions of some orgs like the FPA, NAPFA, CFP Board to help find people, as well as some warnings about how advisors are paid).
WSJ – The Bond Buyer’s Dilemma
The Bond Buyer’s Dilemma The yields on long-term US Treasury bonds will likely fall below inflation for years. Fortunately, some reasonable alternatives strategies exist for investors. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204449804577068152764286924.html –snip– A few bits and pieces from the opinion piece: Are we in an era now when many bondholders are likely to experience very unsatisfactory investment results? I […]
How to Pay Your Financial Advisor
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204554204577024152103830414.html Discusses the pros and cons of various compensation schemes for advisors Asset-Based Fee Fee Plus Commissions Flat Fee Net Worth and Income Hourly Fee What’s missing, I think, is the cases where people don’t realize that they’re paying at all, which usually means commissions or back-end fees. Lots of folks who call themselves “financial […]
Year-End Deadlines
While we recommend planning and managing your finances all year long – this is a process, not a singular task – there are a few deadlines which come up at year-end which cannot be ignored. Some of them represent potential missed opportunities, while at least one of them represents something that if you don’t do […]
Hardly a “lost decade”
We recently heard from a person who has some complaints about the last decade’s performance of his 401(k). He said he’d been putting money in since the beginning of 2000, regularly, and after all this time, the portfolio in his 401(k) is worth a little bit less than the sum of all the money he’d […]
Cash back for your credit card use
I’ve written before about the benefits of cash-back cards over most of the other sorts of credit cards rewards (here ) and little has changed regarding them since that note was written over two years ago. Cash is still king – you can spend it anywhere, there are no blackout dates, and it doesn’t expire. […]
Rick Ferri says “Mutual Fund investors should Occupy Boston”
http://www.rickferri.com/blog/investments/fund-investors-should-lead-%e2%80%9coccupy-boston%e2%80%9d/ Following all the Occupy This and That out there (WallSt, mainly, but there are satellite protests), Rick makes some great points. They’re the same ones he makes on a regular basis, but it’s still nice to see them tied down so cleanly. Summary – the mutual fund industry has been raking in huge amounts […]
2011-2012 California College Costs estimates
I recently got some mail from the California 529 plan, called Scholarshare. At the moment, California’s Scholarshare 529 is managed by Fidelity, but that’s about to change, and this may be worth investigating for those who are already in it – if you like Fidelity and Fidelity’s investment options and expenses (and the integration with […]
Study: 401(k) participants who had “help” outperformed others
http://www.startribune.com/business/130561873.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue 401(k) Study: Workers who sought help improved annual performance by an average of 3 percent DES MOINES, Iowa – Sometimes it pays to get help. A new study of 401(k) accounts provides further evidence that workers who get help pocket higher returns than those handling their own investment choices. The study by human resources […]
John Steele Gordon: A Short History of the Income Tax (WSJ op-ed piece)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576594471646927038.html A Short History of the Income Tax One original sin was the separation of the corporate and personal tax, giving lawyers, accountants and the wealthy a chance to game the system. […] The other pernicious consequence of the separate corporate and personal income taxes has been a field day for demagogues and the misguided […]
Meyers Wealth Management 