The optimum asset allocation to physical gold and silver is 0%. Instead, we recommend you use resource stocks as an inflation hedge.
Read More...
In Praise of Mid Cap Value
Mid-cap value should be part of any U.S. stock allocation which wants to remain invested in the markets, but is worried about potential corrections.
Read More...Three-Factor Model Goes 3D
To understand this newest dimension to DFA’s investment strategy, you need to begin with an understanding of the three-factor model described by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French.
Read More...AAII 2013
Follow-up information for 2013 AAII presentation “Dynamic Portfolio Construction in the Context of Comprehensive Wealth Management.”
Read More...
Should I invest IRA Funds in Real Estate? ($ ?s)
Q: I am looking for a way to get into the distressed real estate market. What recommendations do you have about investing IRA or 401(k) funds in rental houses?
Read More...
Tax on Dividend-Paying Stocks Rising to 74%
With the enormous increase in the taxation of dividends, high net worth investors may be tempted to abandon dividend-paying stocks entirely. This is not necessary.
Read More...Why invest in the emerging markets?
Four reasons not to abandon a brilliant allocation that includes emerging markets simply because of short term fluctuations.
Read More...Vote Marotta As the World’s Next Great Investing Columnist on WSJ’s MarketWatch.com
MarketWatch is seeking a top-notch writer who will bring a fresh perspective on money to the world’s investors. We believe that fresh perspective ought to include the idea of freedom investing.
Read More...How are foreign stocks doing compared to stocks in the United States? Fall 2012
Sometimes the medium term trend seems to weigh more heavily in our minds than the long or short term trends.
Read More...How keeping your money “safe” might lose half of it in 16 years.
“Anyone who’s bought gas, paid a medical bill or sent a child off to college recently knows that the Consumer Price Index doesn’t tell the whole story of inflation.”
Read More...Valuable Property
“Real estate investment trusts should be much more than an optional selection in a balanced investment portfolio.”
Read More...Muni Forecast: Lots of Clouds
“A growing link between municipal bond and U.S. stock performance could be very bad if equities fail to rise robustly over the next few years.”
Read More...Investing In Gold
Direct ownership of gold has become more popular, despite some lingering fear that the government could again ban private gold ownership. With ongoing concerns about the global financial system and gold hitting a record high, many people are interested in this “safe haven.”
Read More...Technology sector doing the best YTD, energy the worst.
Sector rotation would suggest that we are still at the beginning of a market recovery. This is probably the bottom of energy stocks.
Read More...Even with low interest rates you should have an allocation to bonds
“Investors may hold fixed income securities to reduce portfolio volatility, generate income, maintain liquidity, pursue higher returns, or meet a future funding obligation.”
Read More...Emerging Market Bond Funds
Emerging market bonds are an attractive way to get a higher yield, but historically they have come with higher volatility and a high incidence of default. But that has been changing.
Read More...How have emerging market equities performed?
I was on the radio today and someone called in claiming that Vanguard Emerging Market ETF (VWO) had done nothing but go down in value.
Read More...Investing in gold and silver coins
A large number of people in the United States are worried about our profligate spending and the resulting devaluation of our currency. They are worried about politics and socialism and the economy.
Read More...Mailbag: I’d like to withdraw money from my IRA to purchase physical silver.
Precious metals will, on average, just keep up with inflation, but your after tax return would mean you fell behind inflation by the 28% tax you must pay.
Read More...Marotta’s 2012 Gone-Fishing Portfolio Calculator
A gone-fishing portfolio has a limited number of investments with a balanced asset allocation that should do well with dampened volatility.
Read More...
Style Boxes and the Efficient Frontier
The Marotta allocation method is a proportionally weighted allocation based on the square of each Sharpe ratio. Squaring the Sharpe ratio drastically reduces asset categories in proportion to their distance from the efficient frontier.
Read More...$ ?s: Dividend Portfolios Carry Hidden Risks (Part 2)
Q: Do you recommend dividend-paying stocks? If not, what investment strategy do you recommend for retirees like me who are seeking income from our portfolios?
Read More...Asset Allocation and the Efficient Frontier
Crafting portfolio asset allocations is a combination of art and engineering. Just as a blending of colors can produce cerulean, so a blending of indexes produces a unique shade of risk and return.
Read More...Burton Malkiel Picks Bonds as ‘Worst Asset Class for Investors’
Even if the overall inflation rate is only 2.25% in the next 10 years, an investor who holds a 10-year Treasury until maturity will realize a zero real return after inflation.
Read More...Value: The Third Factor of Investing
A stock’s valuation is measured on a continuum from “value” to “growth” In broad strokes, value stocks are cheap and growth stocks are expensive.
Read More...Size: The Second Factor of Investing
The second factor of investing is size as measured by a stock’s total capitalization. Over time small cap will outperform large cap even after factoring out measurements of volatility.
Read More...Your Portfolio Needs Rebalancing
Most investors do not have a balanced portfolio. And by chasing investment returns they miss the easy money they could make from having a good asset allocation in the first place and rebalancing it periodically.
Read More...Investing Mostly in Bonds Means a Lower Lifestyle in Retirement
In the midst of this turmoil, especially after this past summer’s sharp drop, many investors wonder if they should put all of their investments into something safe and avoid the markets altogether.
Read More...Mailbag: My home is 32 times what I paid for it. Isn’t that an investment?
Although the house does not pay me any money on an ongoing basis, I think it will represent a very good return on my money invested should I decide to sell.
Read More...Money ?s: Shorting Uncle Sam’s Debt
Q: Is it now time to short Treasuries? What do you think about using inverse ETFs to play the inevitable bear market for U.S. bonds?
Read More...Mailbag: Which of these 401k investment choices do you recommend?
I’m in my 20s and I’m just getting started in the working world. Which of the attached 401k investment choices do you recommend?
Read More...Money Questions: Fleeing to Fixed Income
What advice do you have for someone who is considering a strategy shift toward fixed income?
Read More...Money Questions: Insights on I Bonds
Q: I am receiving some extra cash as a result of maturing CDs. I want to make a safe investment that is protected against future inflation. We do not need this money, and so I am interested to know what you think of purchasing I bonds for our grandchildren. I have heard they can be tax free if used for college.
Read More...
‘Go Fishing’ in the Calm Sea of Bonds
Adding bonds to an all-stock portfolio can boost returns and lower volatility, especially in choppy markets. Bonds should be a small but important part of your gone-fishing portfolio allocation.
Read More...Global Fixed Income (International Bonds): Hedged or Unhedged?
International bonds now make up more than 35% of the world’s investable assets, and yet many domestic investors have little or no exposure to these securities.
Read More...‘Go Fishing’ With Hard Asset Stocks
Hard assets have been one of the most significant asset classes over the last decade. From all indications, it will continue to be a critically important investment category to protect your portfolio from the effects of inflation and the continuing devaluation of the U.S. dollar.
Read More...An Overseas Gone-Fishing Portfolio
Even in our gone-fishing portfolios we suggest investing more overseas than in the United States. For most investors, foreign stocks will be their largest and most important allocation. Including the right mix of foreign stocks will help you relax and go fishing no matter which foreign seas are in turmoil.
Read More...‘Gone Fishing’ American Style
Creating a gone-fishing portfolio begins with a top-level asset allocation. We use six asset categories. The three for stability are short money (maturing in less than two years), U.S. bonds and foreign bonds. The three asset categories we use for appreciation are U.S. stocks, foreign stocks and hard asset stocks.
Read More...Revisiting the Advice to Buy Real Estate
In 2010 I published a column entitled “Now’s Still the Time to Buy a House.” Investing is like chess in slow motion. It is important to review your moves to see how they turned out. Sometimes they don’t turn out well. Our prediction about real estate, however, was brilliant.
Read More...Avoid the “Ring-of-Fire” Countries
A few months ago Bill Gross, co-founder of PIMCO and the country’s most prominent bond expert, singled out those countries heaping significant deficits on their mountain of debt and called them “The Ring of Fire.” We recommend that you reduce your investments in these countries.
Read More...Investment Strategies Part 4: Don’t Rebalance at the Sector Level
Rebalancing between asset classes boosts returns and decreases volatility. But setting your asset classes based on sectors of the economy is not an effective strategy.
Read More...Investment Strategies Part 1: Rebalance into Stable Investments in an Appreciating Market
Diversifying your portfolio means finding assets that have value on their own merits but do not move exactly alike. A critical investment metric called “correlation” is used to construct a portfolio most likely to meet your personal financial goals.
Read More...Foreign Freedom Investing 2008
You can both diversify for safety and boost your returns by adding international investments to your portfolio. In the past year, international stocks performed 2.5% better than U.S. stocks. And developed countries with the most economic freedom returned an additional 4.4% more than the international index.
Read More...
