Do aggressive investors hit home runs?
Should you be an aggressive investor? After reading the last section, you might think that the correct answer is to not be one of those aggressive investors. This is true in some ways. However, in other ways it can be dangerous to think that you can avoid all risk because you don’t consider yourself to […]
Professional Management: Hire the Best!
Professional Management can be a big advantage. We’re continuing a series on Funds… Perhaps, you don’t have the time, skill, or desire to pick individual securities? A fund offers professional management of one kind or another. It might be an Index Portfolio which doesn’t have an active manager, but instead simply matches the securities it […]
How active do you want to be in your money management?
Is active money management a good idea? Solomon had an interesting take… “If clouds are full of water, they pour rain upon the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there will it lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at […]
Understanding Mutual Funds & ETF’s
Mutual Funds, ETF’s… What’s the difference? Most investors invest their money through funds and for most, that means Mutual Funds. However, Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) have been coming on strong in recent years. What are funds? What are the differences between the types of funds? These are the questions we’ll be looking at in this […]
What is Asset Allocation?
Asset allocation and diversification. What are they and how should you use them to steward what you’ve been given? We began looking at the topic of diversification through asset allocation here. In this post, we’ll begin to dig deeper… “Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come […]
How Do Falling Interest Rates Affect Bonds?
Falling Interest Rates are much more exciting for someone who owns bonds. We looked at the affects of rising interest rates recently and now we’ll examine the opposite scenario. This scenario would work to your benefit as the holder of the original bond. If you own the same bond we mentioned previously with a $1000 […]
How do you Use Asset Allocation?
Asset allocation is crucial as we said last week. However, we want to immediately challenge modern asset allocation theory. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I […]
How Much Do Bonds Suffer When Interest Rates Rise?
Bond pricing is important to understand when interest rates are rising. We’ll continue our discussion by focusing today on rising rates and then moving to falling rates…
Asset Allocation for Beginners
What is the best asset allocation for you? After ripping apart bonds, perhaps we should look at the big picture. Solomon planted the seeds for this important topic 3000 years ago…. “Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether […]
Pricing Bonds for Profit
It’s important that you understand how bonds are priced if you’re considering owning one or more of them. In its purest form, the way a bond works is simple to understand. However, most people never own a bond in this way, so it becomes important that you understand how they are actually priced in the […]