Tuning Out the Noise
Dimensional Fund Advisors believe that the right financial advisor plays a vital role in keeping investors focused on what really matters. Click on the link below to watch the short 2 minute video. Tuning Out the Noise
Market Insights
New Medicare Cards | What You Need To Know
New Cards Increase Identity Protection, But Also Fraud Attempts Beginning in May, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin mailing new identification cards to beneficiaries. The Medicare cards have been redesigned to help reduce the potential for identity theft — Social Security numbers and other personal information have been removed and now… Read More
Behavioral Biases – The Demon of Investing
An advisor’s job is just as much about helping clients control their investing bias and emotions as it is about building and managing an appropriate portfolio. Here are five traits we see: Anchoring Bias – It occurs when you fix on or “anchor” your decisions to a reference point, whether or not it’s a valid… Read More
Wrapping Up One Year and Beginning Another
Financial check-ups much like medical check-ups serve an important purpose. To ignore either may place a person in peril. So let’s get started: Are the provisions of your will current? Do they accurately reflect your current intentions for disposing of your assets? Are your beneficiary designations for retirement plans, IRAs, life insurance, etc coordinated with… Read More
Food For Thought…
“You only get one mind and one body. And it’s got to last a lifetime. Now, it’s very easy to let them ride for many years. But if you don’t take care of that mind and that body, they’ll be a wreck forty years later, just like the car would be.” — Warren Buffett The food… Read More
How Investors Should Think About the Shutdown — Larry Swedroe
Today we’ll continue our discussion on the shutdown by exploring further the emotions financial crises cause and the risky behavior that can be generated as a result. One of the reasons investors resort to risky behavior is because they either don’t have investment plans they can stick to, or if they have plans they don’t… Read More
How the Shutdown Affects Your Investment Plan — Larry Swedroe
I’ve been getting many calls and emails from investors who are very concerned about the stock market, given the partial shutdown of the federal government and the looming crisis if the debt ceiling isn’t lifted. The concerns are typically greatest among older investors who not only remember the bear markets of 2000-02 and 2008, but… Read More
The Momentum Effect in the Stock Markets
Jared Kizer is director of investment strategy for the BAM ALLIANCE. In 2008, Jared co-authored the book The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You’ll Ever Need with financial author Larry Swedroe. Jared has written several articles on topics including retirement planning and investment policy.
What You Should Know About Call Options
A call option contract gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to buy a security at a predetermined price (the strike price) on a specific date (European call) or during a specific period (American call). A call is “in the money” when the current price of the stock is trading above the strike price and “out of the money” when the reverse is true.
Understanding Interest Rate Movements
Investors have been living with low interest rates from late 2008 through current times. Interest rates have been so low for so long that the recent upswing in rates caught many investors by surprise. From the beginning of the year through June 20, the 10-year Treasury rate went up by 0.67 percent from 1.75 percent… Read More