Indexes 101, Part 1: What Is Index Investing?
Everyone has heard of investing in an index, but not many people understand what that really means, so we decided to break it down for you.
How the Fed Impacts Your Investments
The financial media loves talking about changes in the target for the Federal Funds Rate. What the financial media want to talk about and what actually matters don’t overlap much. Let’s take a look at how changes in the Federal Funds Rate actually impact your investments.
What’s So Great About Fiduciary Advisors?
Working with a financial advisor requires trust that goes both ways. But can you fully trust them if they’re motivated by commissions and quotas?
What Are Annuities?
Annuities are like power tools. In the right hands, they can help you considerably, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could cut your fingers off.
How Far Should You Trust Market Models?
We use models all the time. We are constantly making decisions based on them – everything from simple heuristics (nachos taste good), all the way up to (and including) quantum mechanics. They’re great tools for helping us understand and make sense of the world. But it’s important to understand their limitations and the dangers of […]
What is a Reverse Mortgage?
Reverse mortgages have gotten a bad rap. Admittedly, a lot of it was deserved. A bad rap doesn’t just happen without something to base it on. But a lot has changed since Fred Thompson was selling them on daytime TV. Now, reverse mortgages are tightly regulated at both the federal and state levels, not to […]
Your Retirement Number Is Meaningless
Retirement is this big unknown for so many folks, that when someone offers to nail it down to a concrete number, of course people will line up. The only problem is, it’s meaningless.
Do You Need to Diversify Your Bonds?
We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of diversification. We have to look at bonds a little differently; they come with different risks than stocks.
Understanding Bond Returns
Bonds may not be as flashy as stocks, but they form the bedrock of your portfolio, so you should understand how they work.
What are Longevity Goals?
Of all of the different goal types, longevity goals are probably the least intuitive. Your longevity goals are based around the possibility that you will live longer than you expect. That sounds great, but your income plan needs to be able to fund those years of retirement (unless you plan on hustling Pinochle when you’re […]
