What Is A “Margin Alert”?
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There are five types of Schwab Margin Alerts: Margin Maintenance, Short Position, Trade Debit Due, Margin Debit Balance / Account hold Value Advantage, and Trade Settlement Violation

Where Are You in the Financial Lifecycle?
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This may be considered a get rich slowly article but it has more to do with learning to manage your resources and emotions around money.

As Recently As 2007, Banks Were Paying 4% Interest
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In retirement planning, these are the deep risks we are concerned about.

Every Bond Contract Has At Least Five Components
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Unlike stocks, each bond contract has unique characteristics that define how repayment will occur.

Tax By Inflation
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In its simplest form, the government prints money and uses the newly printed currency to fund government spending.

Is Rebalancing a “Myth”?
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You ought to know what it is that you are rebalancing.

Should a Business Buy Its Own Building?
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We finally found a great building and decided to purchase it!

Three Lessons From Warren Buffett’s Big Bet
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For five of the last six years, the simple index fund has outperformed the so-called expert hedge funds, and Buffett’s competition is starting to feel the heat. Here are three important take aways from this big bet.

Which is Better: Bad Market Timing or Not Investing?
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Trying to wait until market conditions are perfect likely means you will miss a good investing opportunity.

Advisors Must Stop Client Self-Destruction
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Sometimes the best advice is when a competent advisor tells you that you are wrong.

End-Of-The-World Money Moves
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How do you prepare for the end of the world?

Opening A Brokerage Account
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Opening an account is the first step in getting started in investing.

How Should Investors Respond to Tender Offers?
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Advice for those who own individual stocks when a response to a tender offer is needed. The research for this article turned out to be much more interesting than I first anticipated.

Marotta’s 2013 Gone-Fishing Portfolio Review
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A review of last year’s 2013 gone fishing portfolio returns.

Should We Wallow in the Rising Stock Market?
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The stock market can occasionally benefit from the misery index.

University of Virginia Best Plan 2014 Asset Allocation Recommendation
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Here is an asset allocation recommendation for the The University of Virginia Physicians Group 2014 BEST plan.

Active Management Has An 82% Failure Rate
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Managing investment assets requires managing investor expectations.

The Truth About Annuities
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Most financial planning articles about annuities pull their punches.

Should I Wait Until After The End Of The World To Start Investing?
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When the dust settles, can I really buy things for pennies on the dollar?

Mailbag: Are the Equity Markets Getting Kind of Toppy?
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It is always a good time to have a balanced portfolio.

Annuities Are Still A Bad Idea
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“Up until recently” annuities were a bad idea. They still are.

Hedge Fund Advice In One Word: Don’t
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The documents where you can review 20 key issues looking for 10 red flags, or…

Housing Market Picking Up and Interest Rates Rising
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I expect we have seen the bottom of both the housing market and 30-year fixed interest rates.

Countries with Economic Freedom – October 2013 Performance
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Countries high in economic freedom, including the United States, outperformed global indexes.

Northern Europe – October 2013 Performance
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Northern Europe beats the EAFE Foreign Index by 0.82% in October.

World Performance – October 2013
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Emerging markets produced some of the highest returns during the month of October.

Six Asset Classes – October 2013 Performance
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In October 2013 the balanced portfolio of a 40-year had a nice 3.54% monthly return.

World Performance – September 2013
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Historically September has one of the worst averages, but this year it provided very good returns.

Countries with Economic Freedom – July, August, & September 2013 Returns
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We recommend investing in countries which are high in economic freedom and low in debt and deficit.

Northern Europe Performance – September 2013
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Northern European countries averaged 6.23% in September 2013.

Six Asset Classes – September 2013 Returns
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In September 2013 the returns of foreign stocks beat US stocks by 4.25%.

When To Say No: 7 Investments to Avoid
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“A well-designed financial plan can get derailed by the wrong investment. Here are seven things investors can probably do without.”

World -July & August 2013 Returns
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Here are the returns for various global investments.

Northern Europe – August 2013 Returns
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In August 2013 the northern European countries did slightly worse than the EAFE Index.

Precious Metals And Mining Recovers Some In Third Quarter
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It is a small investment which you should expect to be volatile and relatively disappointing when the markets are doing well.

Six Asset Classes – August 2013 Returns
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Returns in August were negative across the board with US stocks losing the most.

Danger Of Investing In Startups: My Nephew Bart’s Donut Shop
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No matter how near and dear to your heart, investing in a startup is risky business

July 2013 Asset Class Returns
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Here is how representative ETFs from each of the six asset classes did in July 2013.

How Do I Open an Investment Account? Part 2 -Things You Can Do Tomorrow
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Here’s a walk through of the account opening process at Vanguard.

Gold And Silver Stocks Down In 2Q 2013 Along With The Metals Themselves
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Precious Metal Mining companies are leveraged against the movements of the underlying price of the metals themselves.

Real Estate Down Slightly During The Second Quarter
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Foreign real estate was down more for the quarter because the U.S. Dollar strengthened against foreign currencies.

Energy Funds Slip Slightly in 2Q 2013
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Energy is one important components of the category of Resource Stocks.

The Cost Matters Hypothesis Wins Again
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Chasing historical returns or a so called star manager is a poor investment strategy.

Some European Markets Did Better Than Global Averages During Q2 2013
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In a reversal from past trends, some European markets did better than global averages.

Emerging Markets Down During Second Quarter 2013
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Those investments which go up the most when markets are rising often go down the most when markets are falling.

Global Markets Drop During Q2 2013
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It is prudent not to have your assets all subject to a single country’s economic failure or success.

Foreign Bonds Drop As Dollar Strengthens And Interest Rates Rise
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Just because the dollar strengthens for a quarter does not mean you should abandon this strategy.

US Bonds Drop Value in 2013 Q2 As Interest Rates Rise
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Many investors don’t understand why a bond, which pays a fixed rate of interest and then at the end of the term pays a fixed amount of principle would have its price fluctuate.

What is the Best Type of S&P 500 Index?
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Rather than deciding between active or passive investing, the debate now rages about what type of index fund is best.

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