Archive for the Invest Category

There has been constant chatter about JP Morgan Chase’s $2 billion loss on the news, but what does it really mean to you with your personal finances?  How will it affect you? If you own their stock, you have experienced at 12% reduction in value, but it will probably recover in time. If you bank… Read More »

My article entitled The Asset Allocation Style of Investing, highlighted this method of investing made popular from the study by Garry P. Brinson, Brian D. Singer, and Gilbert L. Beebower that found that over 91% of long-term portfolio performance is derived from the decisions made regarding asset allocation, and not market timing or security selection…. Read More »

There are four ways to invest money, and the most boring way works best for most people: Asset Allocation. The other three ways to invest: strategic asset allocation, market timing or picking stocks are more sexy. Next time investing comes up at a cocktail party you will be sure to hear someone touting their get… Read More »

There is a commercial running now advertising investing in diamonds instead of gold, touting “diamonds the new gold.” Many people have lost interest investing in gold, since the price has dropped to around $1,600 per ounce from a high of a $1,895 in September of 2011. Unlike gold, for the average consumer there isn’t a… Read More »

I previously wrote about the federal lawmakers exemption from insider trading laws, allowing them the ability to buy and sell stocks, bonds and real estate using inside information. The lawmakers have access to privileged information that helped many of them to become multimillionaires, peddle influence, and secretly make the information available to hedge-fund managers that only… Read More »

The media chatter seems to be full of information about Facebook and Groupon’s initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Many people wonder if IPOs make good investments. It is very difficult to determine the value of a stock that has been around a while, let alone a new one with little information to go on…. Read More »

If you decide to hire an investment professional to invest your money for you, one thing you might want to discuss with prospective advisors is the Investment Policy Statement (IPS). The IPS is drafted between you and the advisor that outlines the rules they are to follow when investing your money. The advisor will typically… Read More »

Until these post modern ages, few people did do-it-yourself investment management. With the advent of increased sources of information, no-load mutual funds, and low-transaction-cost brokerage accounts, more people choose to forgo using an investment advisor and manage their investments themselves. You are a smart and intelligent person and probably capable of doing a lot of… Read More »

Investment Management has sometimes been defined as: Managing assets and resources in relationship to your personal and financial goals, in order to most efficiently accomplish desired results. Achieving financial goals involves the use of many techniques, financial concepts, and tools. Perhaps one of the most important is the proper use of savings, investments, and retirement accounts…. Read More »

You may be wondering how your investments performed in 2011, and what that prognosticators are saying for 2012, here are some very good resources: “Mutual-fund categories and their benchmarks ranked by one-year total return. Yardsticks are based on categories compiled by The Wall Street Journal, based on Lipper, Inc. fund investment objectives. Performance for Yardsticks… Read More »