When will the stock market stabilize? As the last trading week of August began, worried investors wondered just that. Gains for the major indices were hard to imagine at Monday’s opening bell, but few imagined the Dow Jones Industrial Average would drop 1,089 points as trading began – a new record, as the blue chips…
Read MoreAmerica once experienced something called “moderate inflation.” It may seem like a distant memory, but it could very well return in the second half of this decade. A remote possibility? Most economists think the Fed will start raising interest rates in late 2015 and take them higher in 2016 through a series of incremental hikes…
Read MoreYou learn lessons as you invest in pursuit of long-run goals. Some of these lessons are conveyed and reinforced when you begin saving for retirement, and others you glean along the way. First & foremost, you learn to shut out much of the “noise.” News outlets take the temperature of global markets five days…
Read MoreWill bond investors soon suffer major losses? In the last few years, Bill Gross, Jim Rogers and other pundits have warned of a bond bubble. While it has yet to occur – the broad bond market yielded an annualized 4.42% from 2010-2014 – the threat remains. Quality bonds have a place in a portfolio, but…
Read MoreDo target-date funds represent smart choices, or just convenient ones? These funds have become ubiquitous in employer-sponsored retirement plans and their popularity has soared in the past decade. According to Morningstar, net inflows into target-date funds tripled during 2007-13. Asset management analysts Cerulli Associates project that 63% of all 401(k) contributions will be directed into…
Read MorePlan to put yourself steps ahead of your peers. If you have a young, growing family, no doubt your to-do list is pretty long on any given day. Beyond today, you are probably working on another kind of to-do list for the long term. Where does “saving and investing” rank on that list? For some…
Read MoreWhen stocks retreat, should you pick up some shares? If you like to buy and hold, it may turn out to be a great move. Buying during a downturn or a correction may seem foolish to many, but if major indexes sink and investors lose their appetite for risk, you may find excellent opportunities to…
Read MoreHow’s your ability to withstand short-term losses? This is the question at the core of any discussion of risk tolerance. Some people are able to ride through turbulence in the financial markets with a shrug while others suffer headaches. Many investment professionals recommend that their clients adopt an investment policy statement (IPS) to do so,…
Read MoreFixed indexed annuities can be very useful investments. As the name implies, FIAs are fixed annuities with a rate or return linked to the performance of a stock market index (often the S&P 500). Because of this stock market exposure, they can sometimes bring conservative investors very nice returns – often, considerably better returns than…
Read MoreHow many of us save and invest with an eye on tax implications? Not that many of us, according to a recent survey from Russell Investments (the global asset manager overseeing the Russell 2000). In the opening quarter of 2014, Russell polled financial services professionals and asked them how many of their clients had inquired…
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