If you look back on my past blogs, I explain the different types of bonds with a fun example. To summarize, bonds come in different maturity dates and different credit qualities. The longer the maturity date, the better the interest you are paid, but the more risk to the bond price if interest rates go…
There must be some physical component in the human brain that relentlessly drives us to compare our lives to that of our friends, enemies, co-workers, or ex-boyfriends. We do it with the cars we drive, the age we marry, our children’s’ SAT scores, and the granite on our countertops. As a financial planner, I often…
One of the perils of working in financial planning is that you speak in this weird language that you think others understand, but they don’t. This is where I rely on my friends to let me know when I am writing in financial-babble. So, this blog goes out to my good, honest friend Dana Lynch. …
First, let me be clear: I am NOT a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. There are such people out there and I highly recommend you visit one before starting divorce proceedings. This is just a quick list of things I wish people would do BEFORE they slam out of the house and start sleeping with their…
The retirement plan maximum increased in 2015 to $18,000/year with a $6,000/year catch up contribution for those aged 50 and over. If you are fortunate enough to be adding the maximum each year to your retirement plan, make sure your contribution percentage is up to date with the new limits. If you are thinking “No…
Here’s a little secret that most investment salespeople will not tell you: The actual investments you choose aren’t really that important. Buying Whole Foods or Walmart or Kroger stock is the least important financial decision you will make. What? How can that be, you say? My adviser is an expert at picking money making investments. …
Bottom-up Investing: No, this is not a reference to Kim Kardashian breaking the internet. Bottom-up mutual fund managers research companies individually and without regard to the current economic cycle, geography, or other big picture considerations. Asset Allocation: I’ll spend more time on this later. For now, know that Asset Allocation is the combination of different…
Here’s a topic that many people wish they knew more about. That, and whether the new college football playoff system will be better than the BCS. Exchange Traded Funds (aka ETFs) were introduced in 1993 with the launch of the S&P 500 Depository Receipt (or SPDR). This was a mutual fund-like investment that pooled investor’s…
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…
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