Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'financial'

Should I Buy A Home? Part 3: Consequences

Continued from Part 1: Preparation and Part 2: Process This is about the long term consequences of the decision to buy or not to buy a home, and economic benefits analysis into whether you should want to buy. In order...

The Biggest Risk

If you've been around the financial planning business any length of time, you've likely run into the saying "The biggest risk is not taking one." It is endemic to all financial instruments, indeed, all investments, that return is the reward...

Beware Agendas in Your Financial Reading

Figures don't lie, but liars sure to figure - and filter, and slant, and just about anything else you can think of. Someone sent me a link to this article in the Wall Street Journal of all places. It...

Government Policy, Economic Consequences, and Following The Trail of Logic

Something I feel the need to point out when people talk about current issues with the real estate market, for instance, housing prices fall yet again, mortgage rates hitting new lows yet again or the Federal Reserve indicating a need...

The Nature of Estate Planning

I've seen some fairly intelligent people completely fail to understand the value of estate planning, how easy it can be, and what it can accomplish. To start with, there are some issues that happen when you die. The first is...

Company Stock in Qualified Retirement Accounts

Most of what you read on financial planning in the media is garbage, but here is one of those occasionally useful pieces: IRA Rollovers Could Have Tax Implications. Here's the idea: You keep company stock in your qualified plan aside...

Passive Asset Allocation

A while ago I talked about Passive Asset Allocation as a way to beat market return as a strategy. So I'm going to write a bit about what it is, why it works, and how to do it. Passive Asset...

How Do You Think About Money?

I am profoundly lucky in that I read "I Will Fear No Evil" in high school. Not an assignment, I just like to read, and Robert A. Heinlein has always been one of my favorite authors. A very few pages...

Naming Beneficiaries - Do It, and Keep Them Current

what happen when 401K leave blank on beneficiary Nothing unless you die, and it's not covered in your will or other documents. Then the state's intestate code takes effect. Each state has a law for how the estates of...

Disability Insurance Considerations

I have a confession to make: When I was doing financial planning, I didn't put enough emphasis on Disability Income Insurance. I was hardly alone in this; Disability Insurance is one of the two most undersold financial products there is....

Flexible College Plan - The State Run 529

Of all the investments out there available to be made, the 529 is neither best or second-best, but it is right up there near the top. Back when I was actively working in the financial planning business, it was one...

Variable Annuities: Debunking the Ignorant Press

Found an annuity article in the local paper with an error so glaring that I had to debunk it. Here's the article:Income for Life And here's the critical error, conveniently in the first two paragraphs: Interested in annuities? The type...

The Prerequisites of Investing

It shouldn't surprise anyone that there are things you should do before you make your first investment. The SEC, NASD and all of the various other financial planning organizations all explicitly list three things that should be in place in...

Life Insurance - Proper Prior Planning Prevents...

Life Insurance is something that nearly every adult should have, and almost every adult who buys goes about purchasing it the wrong way, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, and buys the wrong policy. Is that an indictment...

Annuities, Fixed and Variable

One of the most discounted investments available is the annuity. An annuity can be thought of as the opposite of a life insurance policy. Instead of creating an lump sum of money, an annuity liquidates one by providing you instead...

Mutual Funds: What They Are And How They Work

For being the most popular investments in the country, many people have a "black box" picture of mutual funds. Money goes in one end and more money (usually) comes out the other. Mutual companies in general are a very old...

Volatility: A Regular Investor's Best Friend

Wall Street loves fear and greed. Every time some bad news hits, a lot of benighted investors sell investments that were basically solid. Causing the price they can get for their investments to drop (higher supply, lower demand). Every time...

Shopping for Long Term Care Insurance - Who Should and Shouldn't Buy, and Policy Characteristics

I've run two prior articles this week on the theme of Long Term Care, one on Long Term Care Issues, and one on Non-Tax-Qualified versus Tax-Qualified, and Partnership Insurance Policies. Now, I'm getting down to nuts and bolts of what...

Long Term Care Insurance: Non-Tax-Qualified versus Tax-Qualified, and Partnership

(Part 2 of a three part Series on Long Term Care) I wrote in the previous column a lot about long term care issues. This column deals with the insurance policies available for long term care. There are two major...

The Fallacies of Index Fund Investing

It seems I can't hardly turn around in the investment world without a paean to Jack Bogle, who preaches the advantage of the index fund. Mr. Bogle's reasoning goes something like this: Looking at the world of mutual funds, relatively...