What do you look for in a brokerage firm?

February 17, 2010

I’m in the process of making a tool that helps investors determine where to open a brokerage account that is likely to fit their own personal needs. Naturally, a part of that process is finding out what’s important to that particular investor.
So I’m curious: What factors would you consider when choosing a brokerage firm?
Here’s my [...]

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Tips for DIY Investors

February 16, 2010

This is a guest post from Mr Credit Card of www.askmrcreditcard.com. If you are looking for a credit card, check out his best credit card offers page
Most people I know who do their own investing–as opposed to sticking with index funds or ETFs–use technical analysis or simply do some basic research, assume some growth rate, [...]

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How Much Income Will You Need in Retirement?

February 15, 2010

The rules of thumb (i.e., “you’ll need 70% of your pre-retirement income”) drive me crazy. They’re nothing short of dangerous given the wide variety of people’s plans for retirement.
There’s really no viable alternative to sitting down and calculating how much you’re going to need.
Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as you might think: Start with your [...]

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Weekend Reading 2/12/10

February 12, 2010

Happy Friday, everybody! A collection of my favorites as well as two guest posts from this week:
Investing Articles

Index Funds: The Oatmeal of the Investing World from Financial Ducks in a Row
This Just In: Suze Turns Bearish from Bad Money Advice
Low-Minimum Index Funds and Commission-Free ETFs from The Finance Buff
The Odds of Disability Are Themselves Odd [...]

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Is Private Education a Good Investment?

February 11, 2010
Thumbnail image for Is Private Education a Good Investment?

This is a guest post from Michael, a contributing editor of Dough Roller, a personal finance and investing blog, and Credit Card Offers IQ, a credit card review site.
The debate between private and public education will most likely go on forever. Whether your child comes out of private or [...]

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Index Funds vs. Active Mutual Funds

February 10, 2010

A good story really helps to spread an idea. The story told by the actively managed mutual fund industry goes something like this:
“Index funds are for average investors. You are smarter than average, aren’t you?”
That’s the sales pitch behind the entire industry. And it’s a fairly easy pitch to make given that most people really [...]

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Review: Fund Spy by Morningstar’s Russel Kinnel

February 8, 2010

The more I’ve read about investing, the more I’ve come to see picking actively managed mutual funds as an unproductive endeavor.
In the hope of finding some evidence to the contrary, I recently read Fund Spy: Morningstar’s Inside Secrets to Selecting Mutual Funds that Outperform by Russel Kinnel, Director of Mutual Fund Research at Morningstar.
In his [...]

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Weekend Reading, Buying Life Insurance Edition

February 5, 2010

I don’t know a great deal about life insurance. So when people ask me questions, I generally just try to direct them to other, more helpful resources.
I recently came across one such resource for anyone shopping for life insurance. It’s a website called Clarifinancial that allows you to get free life insurance quotes by creating [...]

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What Can Past Performance Tell Us?

February 3, 2010

I’m currently reading Fund Spy–a book by Russel Kinnel, Director of Mutual Fund Research at Morningstar.
One of the chapters of the book discusses how to intelligently use past performance data. Kinnel begins the chapter by explaining that past performance isn’t a good indicator of future performance. However, he then argues that:
“Fund returns tell you a [...]

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Review: Worry-Free Investing by Zvi Bodie

February 1, 2010

I recently read Zvi Bodie’s Worry-Free Investing. It’s a brief book that makes basically one argument.
Bodie (a Professor of Finance and Economics at Boston University) points out that the reason stocks have high expected returns is that they’re risky. And no matter how long we hold them, there’s always a chance that that risk will [...]

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Weekend Reading 1/29/2010

January 29, 2010

Some of my favorites (as well as two guest posts) from this week:
Personal Finance Articles

Roth Conversion Timing with After-Tax Contributions from Financial Ducks in a Row
When Should You Start Investing? from Five Cent Nickel (post written by Matt from Debt Free Adventure)
Mortgage Protection or Term Life Insurance? from Good Financial Cents
Does Renting Make Sense? from [...]

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