While there have been plenty of reasons to vilify variable annuities (high expenses, high surrender fees, sales charges), there may now be reason enough to take another look at them, especially if you’ve grown weary of the wildly gyrating stock market. In fact, the variable annuities being offered in the marketplace today may just be [...]
Continue Reading →The good news is that banks are lending to businesses again. In what could be a sign that the economy is finally improving, the demand for business credit is picking up, and many of the banks are feeling more obliging than they were just a year ago. The banks realize that small businesses aren’t flush [...]
Continue Reading →Last week we were treated with the news of another multi-billion dollar loss suffered at the hands of one of the largest and most respected banking institutions in the world, JP Morgan Chase. While the loss of $2 billion may turn out to be nothing more than a blip on JP Morgan’s financial statement, it [...]
Continue Reading →Savers and investors are in quite a quandary these days as fiscal and economic policies have driven interest rates to their lowest level in history. In fact, when you factor in inflation most bank savings vehicles are yielding a negative return. Treasury notes are not much better as their yields barely break even with inflation. [...]
Continue Reading →Even as the dust continues to settle after the calamitous financial crisis of 2008 that cost investors and tax payers trillions of dollars, there is still no shortage of hucksters scheming for our money. And incredibly, the pool of hapless investors, willing to turn over their life savings in pursuit of “homerun” returns seems to [...]
Continue Reading →As we have learned over the last couple of years, there is nothing the market hates more than uncertainty, and this year, with the all of the vital fiscal issues dangling before a hyper-partisan Congress and President, its revulsion will very likely become a wrath it unleashes on investors with vicious volatility. What else is [...]
Continue Reading →Last fall as the market was nearing a bottom following a 15% plunge, it was reported that over $80 billion dollars flowed out of equity mutual funds. Since then, the market has rallied nearly 20%, yet very little of that $80 billion has found its way back into the market. It is but one more [...]
Continue Reading →With bank markets going up and down and regulations restricting the fees credit card companies can charge, have you ever wondered “how do credit card companies make money?” Thus far, 2012 has been a year of resurgence for financial stocks, which, for the better part of the last three years have been hammered by investors fearful [...]
Continue Reading →Have you ever wondered what is forex? You’ve seen the Google ads, you’ve heard the radio ads blaring at you during your drive time, and you’ve seen the pictures of odd looking people holding wads of cash in their arms all touting forex as the latest money making miracle. Even without really knowing what it [...]
Continue Reading →If you were to ask any one of the millions of retirement savers who endured the vicious roller coaster ride of the stock market from 2008 through 2011, whether they would have preferred that their money was invested in stable value funds, the answer would probably be a resounding “YES!” That’s easy to say in [...]
Continue Reading →A lot of people have expressed an interest in the highly anticipated Facebook IPO, and rightly so as it is truly the most significant new stock issue to come to market since Google in 2004. Unquestionably, Facebook is a once-in- a-decade opportunity for investors, and no other company has so dominated a space as it [...]
Continue Reading →Much is written on the “biggest financial mistakes” that people make with helpful tips for avoiding them. We’re used to seeing many common examples of how people can get themselves in trouble through certain activities, such as charging up credit cards, making minimum interest payments, buying cars new rather than used, not shopping auto insurance [...]
Continue Reading →A recent U.S. News article reported on a study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) that revealed the dire state of Boomer readiness for retirement. The study included findings on the readiness of late boomers, early boomers and Gen X and Y, and all pointed to between 45% and 50% having insufficient funds [...]
Continue Reading →Most of us would love the thought of retiring early. However, being able to stop working while you are still in the prime of your life is a dream that few of us will realize. But, it doesn’t have to be. By working hard and investing smart, you can make your early retirement dreams a [...]
Continue Reading →What is a put option and how can it help investors in a bear market? Warren Buffet has made no secret of his successful investing strategy. “Buy into fear” he says, “Buy when everyone else is selling”. For most average investors, that may be much easier said than done. Perhaps if we all had a [...]
Continue Reading →The term “Strategic Wealth Management” originated from the full-service brokerage firms, in part, as a way to elevate their status in the eyes of high net worth investors who had viewed them primarily as stockbrokers. It was also thought to more aptly describe the full range of investment services the brokerage firms began offering in [...]
Continue Reading →ETFs, (exchange traded fund) and indexed mutual funds are emerging as the investment of choice for investors who are discovering the virtues of passive investing. Not surprisingly, they have both seen an explosion of growth and are especially popular choices for retirement plans and investors with a long time horizon. With all of the attention they [...]
Continue Reading →Entrepreneurs and self-employed people devote an untold number of hours towards their business, wearing multiple hats and juggling an infinite number of tasks. For many, their business is their future security which is why they are willing to spend so much time working in it. Because of that, and the fact that most business owners [...]
Continue Reading →I’m not about to make any stock market predictions for the New Year, but one thing I can say with nearly 100% certainty is that there will be more uncertainty. If all we could count on is “more of the same”, we might even find comfort in that. After all, we now know what it [...]
Continue Reading →As the wild stock market gyrations continue, investors are reawakening to the performance benchmarks of their mutual funds to see if their fund choices are at least doing better than the market indexes. With most actively managed mutual funds underperforming the current market, investors are, once again, feverishly moving their funds out of stock funds [...]
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