Investments

This article is part of my series where I review how Freedom Investing performs for the quarter.

While many have been following the domestic returns and recovery, fewer investors know how well foreign investments did this past year.

You are not obligated to vote just because you own shares.

The value of a stock is simply what people are willing to pay for it.

Our Gone-Fishing Portfolios are free to use portfolios that take advantage of the no-transaction-fee, low-cost ETFs or mutual funds of each major custodian. Over the years, we’ve changed the funds and the allocations as new research or securities reveal improvements.

Looking closer into each asset class, here’s how our top six asset classes performed between January 1 and December 31, 2020.

There are three clear options: future value schedule, a product array, or a large table.

When you get out of the markets, you have made a huge gamble with your retirement money, and now the stakes are high.

Individual sectors of the economy have reacted very differently to the pandemic.

“No decent planner would ever create a plan that didn’t account for frequent market drops.”

Those who flat-lined to cash or who waited to invest their cash until the markets looked better missed out on the recovery.

In short selling, a bankrupt stock is the best thing that can happen, but the worst thing that can happen is that the stock price will rise.

City real estate will be a little less expensive and suburbs and the countryside will be a little more expensive.

This data shows that there is no historical justification for selling to cash during volatile market movements.

They vary in the slope, depth, and duration of the downturn.

Should investors get out of the markets during an election year?

There are many possible futures which could produce any number of outcomes that would be normal market volatility.

Dare to be dull. When you rebalance instead of following the crowd, you set yourself up for greater expected returns and are the definition of being a contrarian.

Gold is extremely volatile and still doesn’t do much more than vaguely keep up with inflation. You can do better.

Diversification means always having something to complain about. Recently, it has been energy.

Sometimes, you don’t get a second chance to be brave.

I knew the market was going down, but I accidentally took Bogle’s advice and didn’t peek at my own accounts.

Diversification is important. Diversification did not eliminate losses, but it did lose less and recover more quickly.

While the appreciation allocation helps you achieve your financial goals, introducing a stability allocation into your portfolio can prevent your portfolio from running out of money.

This disappointment with good stock market returns explains their need to criticize stock buybacks.

You don’t have to time the market to make money in the market. In fact, timing the market is usually a losers game as the market often pushes your emotions to do exactly the wrong thing.

A recovery after a significant downturn in the markets is often market by steep growth.

“Sell the bounce” is never a good strategy because of the first word.

Market returns are out of your control. These thirteen actions are in your control.

Convert something today. Convert because the markets are down, or maybe convert just because you likely won’t regret it in 30 years when the markets will likely be up a lot more than they are now.

Now that we are in the midst of a bear market, investment returns are down 20% or more and Schwab’s personal value chart makes it look even worse.

During a down market like this one, now is your chance both to harvest capital losses as they occur and rebalance your portfolio.

There are two critically important investment principles during retirement: 1) Stay calm and 2) Rebalance.

For many investors glued to the news, the global outlook appears to be perilous with no prospects of growth for the world economy.

As the stock market trends upward, this dip in market prices can be perceived as stocks being discounted and is likely a great time to buy low.

The fact that you are worried enough to ask might mean that now is a good chance to take stock in your investment strategy.

Don’t let your political emotions cause you to be fearful about the economy. Those misplaced fears may impoverish your financial well-being.

We do not try to time the markets and instead we believe it is always a good time to have a balanced portfolio.

A long expansion is nothing to fear.

Investors hurt their finances more by missing out than they do by staying in.

Investors usually use short time periods and common indexes to measure performance.

If you do compete and want to share your results with us, fill out our Contact form and let us know about your strategy. We may even write an article about you.

On Thursday, December 19, 2019, the S&P 500 Price Index closed above 3,200 for the first time in history. What should we expect going forward?

On Friday, November 16, 2019, the Dow closed above 28,000 for the first time in history. What should we expect going forward?

Check your own funds. You are likely paying too much for your mutual funds.

The markets are inherently volatile, but they have also been inherently profitable. Setting your expectations accurately can help you stay invested long enough to overlook disappointing results and experience the long-term growth you are seeking.

In reality, all three “myths” are cause for real concern about SRI, ESG, and other so-called impact investing.

Keeping $100,000 might cost you $500,000 in lost opportunity costs over 20 years.

Generally speaking, Value stocks outperform Growth stocks. Investing based upon this finding is called “Value Investing.”

During 2019, the U.S. Stock Market generally rose during the four quarters from the lows set by the Almost Bear Market of 2018.