As we introduced in our last post, we’ve obtained the rights to share what we feel is an excellent series of articles: Evidence-Based Investment Insights. Here is the third in this seven-part series. In our last piece, “You, the Market and the Prices You Pay,” we explored how group intelligence governs relatively efficient markets in an imperfect world. Today, let’s look at how prices are set moving forward. This, too, helps...

As we introduced in our last post, we’ve obtained the rights to share what we feel is an excellent series of articles: Evidence-Based Investment Insights. Here is the second in this seven-part series.When it comes to investing (or anything in life worth doing well) it helps to know what you’re facing. In this case, that’s “the market.” How do you achieve every investor’s dream of buying low and selling high...

The Summer of Investment Insights One popular episode in the TV series Seinfeld was “The Summer of George,” in which George declares, “I’m going to read a book! From beginning to end. In that order.” As our own summer flies by, we’ve got some similar book-reading to do ourselves. We look forward to reporting our book-reading results to you in a future “What Sheri’s Been Reading” post. In the meantime, as...

Part II: The 403(b) Plan: Pocket Change or Life’s Savings? As touched on in Part 1 of our two-part series on 403(b) plans, “A Call for 403(b) Plan “Higher Education,” it was initially assumed that the 403(b) would serve as a supplement – not a replacement – for participants’ traditional pension plan benefits. This may have made sense in the 1950's when the 403(b) plan was introduced and pension plans ruled...

Part I: A Call for 403(b) Plan “Higher Education” When seeking financial advice for managing your retirement plan assets, it seems the 401(k) receives a lot more press than the similar, but different 403(b) plans used by government and tax-exempt groups such as schools, hospitals and churches. Some sound advice does cover all retirement plan ground – and all investing, for that matter. But if anyone in your family participates in...

Part III: Additional Notes on Financial Harmony In Part I of our three-part series on managing held-away accounts, we described the important role retirement plans play in your life, as they are often among the biggest building blocks in your household wealth. In Part II, we described an investment strategy for managing them effectively within your family’s overall game plan. Today, we’ll wrap our series with some of the additional advantages...

Part II: From Hodge-Podge Investing to Financial Harmony In our last blog post, we introduced the concept of organizing the building blocks of your household assets under the unified oversight of a financial professional. These include your primary investment portfolio as well as held-away accounts such as retirement plans or unmanaged annuities. Today, we’ll dig deeper into how coordinated oversight can be expected to enhance your investment Harmonious Versus Piecemeal Investing:...

Part I: Building Blocks for Your Life’s Goals Building your dream home involves countless moving parts: architectural blueprints, plumbing and electric, interior design, landscaping, city permits and more. Few would face such a daunting task without an experienced general contractor to ensure that each piece has been individually addressed as well as properly fitted into the whole. And yet, when it comes to their money, most families wind up with a hodge-podge...

Depending on your unique risk tolerances and financial goals, there are times it can make sense to allocate a percentage of your portfolio to real estate investments. But there’s real estate, and then there’s real estate. Do the homes you live in count as investments? Let’s take a closer look. The Role of Real Estate in Your Portfolio Why would you invest in real estate to begin with? As Forbes contributor Frank...

As Valentine’s Day nears, it seems like as good a time as any to cover the frequently asked question about whether gold has an appropriate place in your investment portfolio. We’ve got nothing against your considering the tasteful gift of gold for your sweetheart this time of year, but when it comes to your or your loved ones’ life savings, we advise you to avoid all that glitters. In his article,...