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 of the easiest to sell, as well. It holds one of the best sets of …
Continue reading “Flexible College Plan – The State Run 529”
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 most cases prior to making your first investment in anything. The first of these is …
I just moved into a rental house with an option to buy. I figure I can probably save up around $40-45k for a down payment in three years. how should i save? The Roth IRA tax loophole for first time home buyers maxes out at $10k and takes 5 years anyway. It sounds dumb, but …
Continue reading “What is the Best Way To Save For A Down Payment?”
On a regular basis, I get emails that ask me what I think of a particular company. When I check out public forums, I see questions about particular companies every time. “What do you think of X Realty, or Y Mortgage?” Reputation has a certain value of course, but in my experience, these people are …
Continue reading “Relying Upon Reputation: There Are No Silver Bullets”
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 with a stream of income. The original idea is simple. Suppose you get a lump …
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 concept. The Egyptians had them in ancient times, mostly for insurance purposes. For one time …
Continue reading “Mutual Funds: What They Are And How They Work”
Reading the papers, I see all kinds of garbage about mutual funds. Probably the biggest single piece of garbage is that only the so-called “no load” funds are any good. They focus only on the cost of the “loaded” fund, as if there is no benefit to be had from the fact that the “load” …
A while back, I got an e-mail asking me what my favorite books for investors and real estate folks were. My response? Unless you’re going to practice professionally and undertake the study necessary to do a good job of it, personal financial advice books are largely a waste of money. The only reason I read …
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 a piece of unexpected good news hits, you can expect stock price to take a …
Continue reading “Volatility: A Regular Investor’s Best Friend”
You raise a lot of issues. Some I’m going to deal with very quickly, others I’m going to spend some effort on, but nothing as in depth as a full article would have. I’m going to keep referring to material found in Credit Reports: What They Are and How They Work I’m going to take …
Continue reading “Practical Applications: Credit Cards versus Home Equity Line Of Credit”
