The S&P 500 had another good year, ending up 11.96%. The S&P 500, however, only represents half of the US Stock asset class, and Small- and Mid-Cap stocks performed even better.
It is difficult in investing theory to determine which narratives have the appropriate underlying evidence to support them and which narratives are not worth following. Often it is necessary to be both a mathematician and a skeptic to filter out what is even worth considering.
What does the car your advisor drives tell you about their investment and budgeting services?
“I am no longer an advocate of elaborate techniques of security analysis in order to find superior value opportunities.”
There is a large difference between the motives and incentives of the sales person and those of the service person.
The rough idea is that the stock price of companies that are profitable are more likely to appreciate than companies which are not profitable.
David John Marotta was interviewed on radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show discussing corporate tax rates, and why they should be lowered.
A good narrative describes what happened in the past. And even though past earnings may have something to do with current share prices, they don’t have anything to do with future share prices.
Instead of giving cash, there are two ways you may be able to give so more of your money goes to charity instead of the IRS.
Factor investing “tweaks the idea of asset allocation and diversification by seeking out types of securities that have been shown, by decades of academic research, to offer positive return premiums over time.”
Even though you are required to start taking RMDs you can still take advantage of significant tax planning strategies.
The rules for post-70 ½ IRA contributions depend upon whether the account is a traditional IRA, Roth IRA or SEP IRA.
Listen to a discussion on why journalists are usually liberal-leaning and what that means for reporting the news in America.
Since not receiving an important email can be even more dangerous as receiving too much spam, here is how to whitelist an email or an entire domain in Gmail.
Beware of reading too much into three days of market movements.
On the surface it seems like option 3 (VHT) is the best deal. Is there anything I am missing?
There are three types of crowdfunding each defined by what people receive in exchange for the money they pay: Reward-based, Donation-based, and Equity-based.
Dr. Randall Bell develops strategies to overcome problems and maximize peak performance.
To illustrate this principle, I analyzed a week’s worth of “Morning and Midday Market Views” provided by the Schwab Center for Financial Research.
Is there morality that supersedes legally abiding by the tax code?
No one would click on the headline, “Stocks went up today and we have no clue why.”
We allocate a portion of our managed portfolios to foreign stocks, and Hong Kong is the highest ranked country on the latest edition of the Index of Economic Freedom.
Taking the smallest distribution each year will ensure the beneficiary achieves the maximum tax-free growth of tax-free income.
It is relatively easy for an adviser who has a 400 lawyer compliance department to sit through some compliance continuing education and yet never understand what attitudes and behaviors need to be changed.
David John Marotta was interviewed on radio’s Schilling Show discussing the relationship between the government and college education.
Long/short strategies use the money from the stocks they have shorted to purchase extra stocks that they hope will go up.
If you own some mutual funds, chances are you are paying a hefty marketing price.
While taking Social Security at age 70 is not optimal for everyone, age 62 is optimal for almost no one.
Those who believe that more regulation is the answer don’t understand how human nature works.
When seeking a financial advisor, you should find out if they are willing to sign a fiduciary oath putting your interests above those of their employer.
Under one theory, changes in GDP or the rate of GDP growth precede and could cause stock markets to react and move in response. This is usually not the case.
I receive dire predictions with such frequency that were I to act on even a fraction of them I would never be invested in the markets.
Return comes with an element of risk. There is no safe investment which also pays a good rate of return.
This Bear market is considered one of the greatest challenges to retirement planning.
Many feel helpless to direct their own success, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Funeral expenses are often a family’s fourth largest expense.
The IRS does not require dependents whose gross income is only earned income to file a tax return if the amount is less than a certain amount.
Many advisors and most investors don’t really understand the math on how to compute investment returns.
David John Marotta was interviewed on radio’s Schilling Show discussing real estate and its importance in your total net worth.
Our minds are wired to quickly generalize on perceived trends and react to them.
Bear Markets are unpredictable, but there is no reason that they should be a cause of distress.
We have calculated safe withdrawal rates for ages 0 to 100 based on age-appropriate asset allocation mixes.
There are at least five reasons to hold cash. Without a good reason to hold cash, you may be holding too much.
It should be clear that “fee-only” means “fee-only,” not “fees and third-party manager revenue-sharing and trailing mutual fund fees.”
Before the children arrive, squirrel away some money. When the children go out on their own you get one last chance to save for retirement.
The future may be uncertain, but the markets are quite reliable in the long run.
Purchasing investment products in isolation from the larger context of your specific situation is like pushing random buttons on a vending machine in order to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for your family.
Here are nine steps you should take to make it more difficult for criminals and identity thieves to steal your personal information.
Apparently the idea behind asset allocation is more complex than they think.
REITs are one way to get some of the benefit of investing in real estate without as much of the risk.