Articles Index

Are You Making These 5 Mistakes When Buying Mutual Funds?

These 5 mutual fund buying mistakes will cost you money. Here's how to avoid them.

Are You Using These 5 Rules To Avoid Bad Investments?

Five rules to use to help you avoid bad investments.

Understanding Your Employee Stock Options

Employee stock option plans can put money in your pocket. If you are new to employee stock options, here are the basics.

5 Factors To Use in Deciding When to Exercise Stock Options

Here are five factors to use in deciding when to exercise employee stock options.

5 Things to Know Before You Invest Your Retirement Money

Retirement is scary and figuring out where to put your retirement money isn't always easy. Here are five things you must know before you invest your retirement money.

How Much Can You Withdraw In Retirement?

Traditional thinking on how much you can withdraw in retirement may be wrong. You must look at the after-tax impact of your retirement account withdrawals, which may mean taking more in some years than others.

What Should I Do With My Money?

"What should I do with my money," she asked. "What do you need your money to do for you?" came the reply.

How to Measure Investment Risk

Measure investment risk accurately and you'll know what to expect. Learn how to tell the difference between low, medium and high risk investments and you'll avoid costly mistakes.

Investing Basics - Safety, Income Or Growth

Investing basics: the perfect investment would be safe, provide income and grow. Unfortunately, it doesn't exist. Instead you have to understand investing basics so you can combine investments (which is called building a portfolio) to achieve the right combination of safety, income and growth.

5 Stupid Things People Do With Their Retirement Money

People do a lot of smart things... and a lot of stupid things with their retirement money. Of them all, these are the five stupidest things I've seen people near retirement do with their money.

Lesson Five: On Buying a Home – A Home Is Not an Investment

Common sense advice on buying a home. If everyone followed this home buying advice our country would be in a rock solid financial situation.

Lesson Six: On Investing - The Stock Market is Not for Rookies and Part-Timers

The stock market and investment industry are not for rookies and part-timers. Trying to get your hands around the intricacies of the financial markets, you’ll come up against terms such as junk bonds, hedge funds, short selling, stop loss orders, basis points, call and put options, derivatives, negative yield curves, closed-end funds... Only investing in what you understand is among the best financial advice you’ll ever receive.

Target Date Funds - What is a Target Date Fund and How To Use One

Many 401k plans offer something called a target date fund as one of the investment choices. Unfortunately many people do not use the target date funds in their plan correctly. Here is what a target date fund is, and how to use it.

5 Steps To Make An Investment Plan

To make an investment plan you simply ask yourself the right questions, and patiently work through the answers. Here are the five questions you need to ask.

Gambler's Fallacy - Learn To Be A Better Investor Through Behavioral Finance

Random events are, well, random, yet people frequently think they can see a pattern to these events. With gambler's fallacy, people expect patterns to be more predictable than they actually are. They then make investment decisions, often bad ones, based on those expected patterns.

Overconfidence - Learn To Be A Better Investor Through Behavioral Finance

Overconfidence causes investors to make poor decisions. This human psychological characteristic is well documented by the field of behavioral finance. Learn what overconfidence is, the affects it has, and most importantly how to become a better investor by understanding overconfidence.

Hindsight Bias - Learn To Be A Better Investor Through Behavioral Finance

Hindsight bias is the tendency to construct one's memory after the fact. The field of behavioral finance says hindsight bias may contribute to investor overconfidence. Learn what hindsight bias is, and how it may affect investment decisions.

4 Ways The Average Investor Can Manage Investment Risk

Average investors are not so great at managing investment risk. They seem to sell when they should buy, and buy when they should sell. To get better results, you need to learn how to manage investment risk successfully. Below I’ve outlined four ways to manage investment risk. You may wish to use all of them, or you may choose to employ only one or two.

Best Retirement Investments

If you’re searching for information on retirement investments you’re probably looking for an investment that will provide income for you. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of retirement investments with additional information on each.

A Retirement Asset Allocation Designed To Maximize Lifetime Income

A traditional approach to retirement asset allocation would put your money in stocks and bonds and estimate how much you could withdraw each year. Your other alternative would be to buy an immediate annuity that guarantees lifetime income. A new retirement asset allocation models gives you the best of both worlds.

What Is The Difference Between Active and Passive Investing?

How does an actively managed mutual fund differ from a passive mutual fund? Academically, which performs better: actively managed investing or passive investing?

What is the Risk in A Stock vs. Risk In An Index Fund?

What is the additional risk involved in buying an individual stock verses buying a stock index fund?

What Is A Closed End Fund?

What is a closed end fund? Closed end funds can produce consistent income, but their share prices can be volatile. Before investing in closed end funds, take the time to understand how they work.

What Is An Index Fund And Why Would I Use One?

Buying an index fund, or even better, a portfolio of index funds, is a way to own almost every publicly traded stock that is available. Think of it like owning every team in the NFL, instead of trying to bet on which team will win the Superbowl this year.

3 Foolproof Ways To Allocate Your 401k Money

No need to reinvent the wheel. Most 401k plan now offer foolproof ways to invest your 401k money. Learn how to identify these great choices.