One of the recurring themes in the financial press in recent years is a warning to income-oriented investors not to pile into dividend-paying stocks to boost portfolio income. The Wall Street Journal has a recent article on this topic titled, “Why Dividend Stocks Aren’t the New Bonds.” This article is motivated by the fact that [...]
Archive for the ‘Investors’ Category
Dividend Stocks vs. Bonds: Are They Worth the Risk?
Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Diversification, Dividends, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, retirement income, retirement planning, Uncategorized, Volatility, tagged Bogleheads, bonds, Burton Malkiel, Dividend Stocks, income, Treasury bonds on February 10, 2012 | 2 Comments »
What is Your Risk Appetite?
Posted in 401(k), Diversification, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Market Outlook, Market Timing, Markets, pension plans, pensions, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Uncategorized, Volatility, tagged quicken, retirement planning on January 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Guest Blog from Quicken.com. Only one thing always happens in the financial markets: Values fluctuate. Before investing in any market, at any price, in any climate, prudent investors think about how much fluctuation they can handle. In other words, how much can your portfolio go down before you start to lose sleep? We all have [...]
Understanding France’s Credit Rating Downgrade
Posted in Bonds, debt, Dividends, Global Investing, Income Investing, Investors, Uncategorized, Volatility, tagged AA, AAA, bonds, downgrade, economy, France, income, S&P, yield on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Standard and Poor’s downgraded France’s credit rating last week from AAA to AA+. While this downgrade has gotten a lot of press coverage, there are a number of topics surrounding the downgrade that are worth noting. First, France now has the same credit rating from S&P as the United States. As you’ll remember, S&P downgraded [...]
3 Stock Picking Strategies for 2012
Posted in Investors, Long-term investing, Low Cost Investing, Market Outlook, Portfolio Investing 101, Risk, Stock Investing, Uncategorized, tagged asset allocation, Income Investing, stock investing, stocks, volatility on January 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Guest Blog by Kip Robbins, CFA, Zacks.com. Having worked in the equity markets for awhile now with a primary focus on finding profitable stock-picking strategies, I sometimes feel like the keeper of great stock picking ideas. That being said, as the New Year is upon us, I’m in a giving mood and would like to [...]
Is Your Brain a Barrier to Smart Investing?
Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Behavioral Finance, Books, Diversification, ETFs, Financial Advisors, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Markets, Mutual Funds, Personalization, retirement income, Risk, Uncategorized, tagged asset allocation, Behavioral Finance, Daniel Kahneman, David Swensen, Fees, investing, management fees, mutual funds, rebalancing, retirement planning, volatility on January 5, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Guest blog by Daniel Solin, Mint.com. The evidence showing that most individual investors significantly underperform the market is compelling. A study done by Dalbar, a leading financial services market research firm, found that, during the 20 years from 1991 through 2010, the average stock fund investor earned returns of only 3.83% per year, while the [...]
Just Put the Ball in Play
Posted in Active Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Market Outlook, Market Timing, Markets, Personalization, Rebalancing, Regular Investing, retirement income, retirement planning, Risk, Stock Investing, Uncategorized, tagged asset allocation, Behavioral Finance, diversification, MoneyBall, recency bias on December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Guest Blog by Robert P. Seawright, CIO, Madison Avenue Securities. On account of the success of Moneyball (both the book and the movie, nicely satirized here), baseball management is often compared to investment management, and with good reason. Moneyball focused on the 2002 season of the Oakland Athletics, a team with one of the smallest [...]
The 50-50 Portfolio Solution?
Posted in 401(k), Active Investing, Asset Allocation, Income Investing, Investors, Long-term investing, Low Cost Investing, Market Outlook, Regular Investing, Retirement, retirement income, retirement planning, Uncategorized, Volatility, Wealth, tagged 50/50 solution, Bogle, diversification, John Bogle, market downturn, New York times, NY Times, recession, Tactical Asset Allocation, Vanguard, VBMFX, VFINZ on December 8, 2011 | 5 Comments »
The New York Times had a piece this weekend that proposes a simple portfolio solution for worried investors. Are you ready for this? The portfolio is a 50% allocation to stocks and 50% to bonds. The conclusion that the 50/50 portfolio makes sense is based on a study by Vanguard published in October 2011 that [...]
Lemons or Lemonade?
Posted in Behavioral Finance, Diversification, financial planning, Income Investing, Investors, Market Outlook, Personalization, Portfolio Investing 101, Uncategorized, Wealth, tagged Accrual Anomaly, cash flow, Dr. Richard Sloan, earnings, Len Zacks, The Handbook of Equity Market Anomalies, zacks, zacks.com on November 23, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Guest Blog by Kip Robbins, CFA, Zacks.com. This past Sunday it was 71 degrees and dry in Chicago. If you’ve ever lived here in November, you know that’s an anomaly. At this time of year, it’s usually 44 and wet. I felt so warm, I decided to have a glass of lemonade which is usually [...]

