From the category archives:

401k

A Match Made in 401(k) Heaven – Almost

July 30, 2010

We talk about the 401(k) match as the benefit most needed for investors to achieve the kind of retirement they need.  We call it free money – which it really isn’t.  We call it an incentive – which isn’t always the case. We call it a benefit worth considering – which it can be depending [...]

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Middle Class: The Money Class? Part Two

July 29, 2010

Part one of our series on the Middle Class: The Money Class? can be found here. Who are you? The mutual fund industry has been asking that for decades and the answers still aren’t quite clear.  But they are getting closer to understanding that the vast majority (85%) of the owners of mutual funds are [...]

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Middle Class: The Money Class? Part One

July 28, 2010

According to the most recent Investment Company Institute Factbook, the fund industry, based on what they refer to as emergence of fund entrepreneurs have made the middle class the money class.  With 90 million households owning mutual funds, either in their 401(k)s or some other type of defined contribution plan available n the workplace or [...]

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Lifetime Payments Work Best for Women

July 27, 2010

Those who follow this site know that as a rule, I don’t like annuities. For most of us, this sort of  - and I hesitate to call it such – investment is something you purchase to guarantee income.  Part mutual fund, part insurance policy and wholly too expensive on both counts, annuities, for whatever reason [...]

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The F in ETF Doesn’t Mean Free

July 25, 2010

Exchange Traded Funds or ETFs, those index funds that mimics those of the mutual fund world that trade openly on the stock exchange throughout the day have made investors who don’t use them wonder if they are missing something and those that do, want the F in ETF to stand for free. But they only [...]

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Congratulations, You were Warned

July 24, 2010

The line in the Vanguard press release dated October 6th, 2009 offered the following: “We also caution against using short-term performance figures—however attractive—to guide your investment decisions.”  Why would they say such a thing after the run-up, that even they suggested was, too-far-too soon?  And could the worry that this short-term outlook would tempt the [...]

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The Retirement Entitlement

July 23, 2010

Every now and again, I bump into someone suggesting that retirement is not an option, we can work for ever and above all, it is not an entitlement.  When we look at that particular buzzword – entitlement – some of us wonder how its place in the lexicon became so reviled.  Nothing we are entitled [...]

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Retirement Planning: When Losses Turn to Lawsuits

July 21, 2010

Some people have suggested that the easiest way to determine when the next wave of litigation against brokers/advisers will begin is to mark the calendar one year after the market hits bottom.  It takes about that long experts say for the anger to well up to the point where attorneys are brought in to the [...]

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Retirement Planning: The Odds ‘n’ Ends Edition

July 20, 2010

Although on most day I address a single topic concerning your retirement plan, your 401(k), your IRAs, investments such as mutual funds or bonds, there are several tidbits that are worthy of inclusion – just not a full-on article.  Our Odds ‘n’ Ends edition on retirement planning hopes to fix those items that slip through [...]

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The Retirement Wonder Years

July 17, 2010

The older you get, the more apt you are to think about your retirement.  And according to some recent indicators, you are also thinking, perhaps even worrying about your children’s retirement.  The dilemma is not easy to answer and in some instances, will not truly unfold until many of are able to anything constructive to [...]

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