Changes in interest rates have a disproportionate effect on your portfolio. Lower interest rates can help boost corporate earnings, and as earnings increase, market prices often do too. This is a key reason why stocks frequently increase in value as interest rates fall. Another reason is that lower interest rates drive investors to seek higher […]
Slow and Steady Wins the Race Investing
Research released last month is turning conventional investing wisdom on its head. At a top investment conference, researchers demonstrated that a number of widely held beliefs about stocks simply have not held up over time. Here’s what they found: Low volatility stocks outperform volatile ones in the long run: Looking at forty years of data, […]
Should You Have ETFs in Your Portfolio?
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have been attracting more and more attention in recent months. CNN Money recently published a detailed article titled “ETFs: Why so complicated?” which discussed how ETFs can be used and abused. I strongly agree with the article’s primary point: The key to success with ETFs is careful management. It’s no mystery […]
The Risk of Selling Now to Pay Lower Taxes
To quote the late Chief Justice John Marshall, “The power to tax is the power to destroy.” That’s why managing your portfolio in a tax-efficient manner should be an increasingly important part of your investment strategy—especially given the looming risk of higher taxation. After all, what really matters in the long-term is not your pre-tax […]
A Fun Article About How to Invest Your Lottery Winnings
In case you were one of the lucky few who won last week’s $577 million Powerball lottery, you can find our recommendations on how to invest your winnings at the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch site. The title of the article is “Fiscal Cliff May Clip Powerball Winner“.
Great Article on Dividend Investing
An excellent and timely article recently appeared in CNN Money–one that offers valuable insight for equities investors. Here’s the link: Want top stocks? Bet on brand names. As you can see from the title, the author, Scott Cendrowski, believes that shares of companies selling brand name consumer goods have been, and will continue to be […]
Retro Investing Article from WSJ
The Wall Street Journal recently published a very timely article about the current investment climate. Here’s the link in case you missed it: “Retro Investing – Look Back to Get Ahead.” As the title implies, the author suggests that history can offer important lessons to help us chart an investment path forward. I agree. In […]
The Ostrich Generation
The Wall Street Journal recently published a terrific article that I thought I should pass along to you in case you missed it: “Don’t Join the Ostrich Generation“. It highlights some disturbing financial trends, and then discusses ways for you to protect yourself. First, some troubling facts: Many Americans are avoiding planning for the future. […]
S&P Downgrade
Lessons of Lower Ratings Regarding S&P’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, the Wall Street Journal’s article Lessons of Lower Ratings provides an historical perspective of how other countries have performed after a cut in their credit ratings. As discussed in the article, history suggests the recent downgrade could actually be a long-term positive […]
Ignore the Economists
CNNMoney just published an excellent article titled Don’t Listen to Recession Forecasters. This is a great article for those investors who believe they can time the market by predicting recessions. As the article suggests, the odds are greatly stacked against this approach. Here are two key points to consider from the article (with my comments): […]
