Category Investments
Morningstar answers a reader’s question about UGMA accounts
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=537628 Question: I set up an UGMA for my daughter as a way to help save for college, but now I read that the money in the account could hurt her chances of getting financial aid. Can I cash out the account or move the money to a different type of college-savings plan? If you […]
Top 10 non-leveraged ETFs over the last year
I saw an article on a financial planning site pointing to the fact that 8 of the top 10 performing ETFs in 2011 were US Government Bond funds. So I just did a quick double check via Morningstar’s ETF screener, though the screener doesn’t let me pick a specific year – it lets me do […]
Waggoner: What we learned from bonds’ victory
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/waggon/story/2012-01-05/stocks-bonds-diversification/52395986/1 Great column from John Waggoner in USA Today. The headline is a reference to the fact that over the last 1yr, 10yr, 20yr and 30ys periods, bonds (long term treasuries, mainly) have had higher total returns (with dividends all reinvested) than large-cap US stocks (mainly the S&P 500). Some takeaways: the selection of stocks […]
WSJ/Burton Malkiel: Where to Put Your Money in 2012
WSJ/Burton Malkiek: Where to Put Your Money in 2012
Another excellent op-ed piece by Burton Malkiel, author of the classic “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”.
Malkiel makes the following points (summarized – but you should really read the article):
- Bonds, especially US and Europe, are not positioned to do very well in the future
- Stocks, especially the US and Emerging Markets are
- Emerging Markets, in general but especially Brazil and China and even India look good (natural resources, demographics, etc)
- Single-family houses in the US are less expensive and with ultra-low mortgage rates (see “Bonds” above — a mortgage is the opposite side of buying a bond – it’s borrowing rather than lending!) look good. (“Housing affordability has never been better.” Though, of course, that’s contingent on good credit and probably a job.)
- Costs matter – this was the final paragraph and it’s always worth repeating: “Control the thing you can control — minimize investment costs. That is especially important in a low-return environment. Make low-cost index mutual funds or ETFs the core of your portfolio and ensure that any actively-managed investment funds you purchase are low-expense as well.”
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Felix Salmon responds to Swensen’s anti-mutual-fund piece
Felix Salmon, a widely published financial journalist, responds to Swensen’s article about how much of the mutual fund industry is ripping off investors. In particular, he takes issue with Swensen’s suggestion that the SEC should be somehow pushing folks to buy index funds. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/08/19/why-the-sec-shouldnt-push-index-funds/ Salmon grudgingly seems to agree that *within an asset class* it […]
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