You may think of investment people as nerds (and you are mostly right), but we have areas where we are passionate, too. One of them is whether index investing or active management is better. On the Index side, you have people who sometimes refer to themselves as Bogleheads (kind of like Parrotheads, but WAY less…
Happy New Year! In December I veered off in all sorts of random directions with the blog. Between year-end to-dos and general revelry, I got way off task with the decoding financial jargon goal. So, back to work we go. In past blogs, I’ve explained what a mutual fund is, how to do research picking…
Happy New Year! In my financial planning business, I work with three distinct groups: Those who are just starting out in their professional and investing lives (ages 25-30) People who are building careers, families, and savings portfolios (30s – 50s) Pre-retirees or people who have recently retired (50s and beyond) Following are the New Year’s…
“Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.” ―Victor Borge Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice. ―Dave Barry “Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and…
A financial planner telling you how to spend MORE money over the holidays? What madness is this? Well, I’ve about read my fill of articles telling me to make a list and check it twice before double buying gifts for Great-Aunt Gertrude (by the way I do use a Christmas list and it really works!). …
Second in a 2-Part Series In part one you have madly scrambled to increase your retirement plan savings and sign up for your Flexible Spending Account during the last milliseconds of open enrollment. Now, let’s talk about the other 3 items on the list. #3 Harvest Tax Losses In your non-retirement (a.k.a. taxable) accounts, you report…
First in a 2-part Series Sorry folks, but your year-end madness is not limited to covering your house with decorations a la Clark Griswold or fighting the mongrel hordes at the mall. There are some financial items that need your attention, too! This time we’ll focus on items #1 and #2. In part 2 we’ll…
Last week, we saw how bond prices change based on the interest rate being paid by newer bonds in comparison with older ones that have already been bought by consumers. We also saw 2 weeks ago how you might diversify your bond holdings by having some that are super-safe (US Government issued), pretty safe (bonds…
Bonds do go up and down in price. One reason can be because of changes in interest rates. Let’s return to Kristi’s Ranger Cookie Food Truck. You’ve bought a $5,000 bond from me that matures in 5 years. My business is going well and I’m paying your 5% interest every year as promised. But, let’s…
Remember a few weeks ago I introduced the business of Kristi’s Ranger Cookie Food Truck? Let’s go back and visit that business to get a better understanding of how the bond market works. As we said before, a bond is simply a loan between two parties. The buyer of the bonds is the loaner and…
