From the monthly archives:

October 2009

Risk in the Spotlight

October 27, 2009

There is no doubt that an enormous amount of confusing information is still floating around about retirement planning. Folks are trotting out old mares, suggesting that slow and easy is still the best approach. Some a taking the rider off the horse altogether, instead putting them in a wagon – you know, for safety’s sake. [...]

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Trashing Target Date Funds

October 27, 2009

I have been on the record, with some decidedly trash talk centered thoughts about target dated funds in the past. Why do I think these are quite possibly the worst investment idea ever? Let me explain what these funds are suggesting they can do and why, under the guise of protecting your assets as you [...]

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Mutual Fund Return Chasers Return

October 24, 2009

Like a torrential downpour can overwhelm gutters, flood streets and generally create the kind of havoc only water can, too much money flowing into mutual funds can also leave a mark on both new investors and those of record. Now that the markets seem to be hellbent on leading the recovery (although there is still [...]

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The Retirement Landscape

October 22, 2009

Retirement planning has become a very much a trick or treat landscape to navigate. Numerous products will be found in your 401(k) plans in the near future that might not prove to be the best solution for the investment dilemma your retirement accounts are in. And with Halloween just around the corner, perhaps we should [...]

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Retirement Survival

October 20, 2009

It was bound to happen. Most of us have been predicting it for years. Retirement. That long awaited event which bridges the days of wealth accumulation with the moment of wealth draw down. All of your hard work, your scrimping and saving, your investing and financial wrangling all come down to this moment. And as [...]

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Making Your 401(k) More Tax Friendly

October 19, 2009

William Bernstein writing for Barron’s foresaw the future of the 401(k), this country’s most ubiquitous retirement plan. “The 401(k) is likely to turn out to be a defined-chaos retirement plan.” And so it goes. Almost nine years after that comment was penned, the 401(k) has, for the most part, turned out to be a failure [...]

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Subtle Changes in Your 401(k)

October 17, 2009

While we can discuss risk and the risk of too little risk, the real risk might be where you put your money in your 401(k). In fact, what your plan offers may be so limited that your choices boil down to good and not-so-good. Most common, garden variety 401(k) plans offer index funds, lifecycle funds [...]

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Downside Investing

October 15, 2009

Most of us now realize that our mutual fund investments, particularly those in our retirement accounts, can go down, often dramatically. Until recently, we paid little attention to how bad a fund can perform, focusing instead on how well it can do. We make random estimates of how much money will be in the account [...]

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401(k) Investing: A Tool to Help You Know

October 13, 2009

<span style=”font-weight:bold;”>It Should be Easier</span> There are numerous obstacles that keep us from building enough wealth in our 401(k) plans.  The first is as simple as beginning to invest in your retirement future.  This is stressed frequently and with good reason.  The earlier you begin investing, the better situated you will be for  retirement in [...]

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How to Look at Investments

October 12, 2009

It Should be Easier There are numerous obstacles that keep us from building enough wealth in our 401(k) plans. The first is as simple as beginning to invest in your retirement future. This is stressed frequently and with good reason. The earlier you begin investing, the better situated you will be for retirement in the [...]

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