Category Archives: Investing

Reversing the Conventional Wisdom
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One of the biggest concerns retirees have is running out of money during their retirement years. A significant risk factor affecting whether retirees will be able to maintain their cash flow is negative investment returns during the early years of retirement. Losses in the early years, plus the withdrawals taken during those years, can lead to an
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Go Team USA!
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Watching the USA vs Portugal match at Fado’s Irish Pub on Sunday got me thinking about how much we really hate to lose. Yeah, I know we didn’t lose, but for the several hundred of us who chanted “USA, USA, USA” for two hours, that last minute draw sure felt like a loss. This strong dislike
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Remember the concept of buying low and selling high?
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The 10-year gap between the average mutual fund investor and the average fund increased to 2.5% by the end of 2013. The typical investor gained 4.8% annualized over the 10 years while the typical fund gained 7.3%. Yikes! Why is the investor underperforming? It’s not so much that investors pick bad funds, it’s that their timing in
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Weighted Indexes: How Are You Choosing Your ETFs?
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Choosing an etf for your investments
With the number of exchange-traded funds (ETF's) growing each year, it is important for you as an investor to understand exactly what you are purchasing if you plan on investing in an ETF. When you are deciding which ETF to buy, typically you would first decide what general area of the investment universe you want exposure to. One
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Alternative Investment Types – Blog #2
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As you may recall from my earlier blogs, the objective of alternative investments is to reduce the volatility of a portfolio by investing in products that are not highly correlated with stocks and bonds. Here are a few additional types of alternative investments: Merger Arbitrage This is a strategy that involves the fund manager earning income by investing
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Alternative Investment Types – Blog #1
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As promised in my most recent blog on alternative investment strategies, my next few blogs will describe some of the most popular alternative investment types available. Long/Short Equity Funds This type of fund combines a core group of long stock positions with short sales of stock or stock index options and futures. The fund managers take a
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Alternative Investing Strategies to “Smooth the Ride”
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alternative investment strategies can reduce risk
For the second year in a row, I recently attended the National Conference on Alternative Investment Strategies.  An alternative investment strategy involves investing in financial products other than traditional stocks and bonds. The primary purpose of this approach is to reduce the volatility of a portfolio, manage risk and enhance the return over time. This is accomplished by investing in products that
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