I would like your opinion and advice on how I should allocate my investments and my daughter’s investments among mutual funds.
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I would like your opinion and advice on how I should allocate my investments and my daughter’s investments among mutual funds.
The beginning of the year is portfolio rebalancing time for investors. I write a lot about investing as I believe it is an achievable path to long term wealth. If you don’t know what asset allocation is or much about investing at all then this article is for you.
In investing, you feel great when your statement shows a nice fat annual return like 12% or even 13%. Conversely, when you have a “bad” year with a negative return, you’re disappointed.
I’m not the only one unsure of the market valuations.
The Yale academic, Robert Shiller, and creator of the 10 year (trailing) Shiller PE is at odds with the market strategist, David Bianco. In the Wall Street Journal article, Is the Market Overvalued?, by E.S. Browning. Shiller believes the market is overvalued and Bianco disagrees.
“(Saving) $50 a week for 52 weeks is $2,600, but it still wouldn’t meet the $3,000 minimum initial investment for the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund.”
As a longtime cheerleader of Vanguad low cost Index funds, I WAS TROUBLED BY THAT COMMENT. I immediately called up Vanguard to confirm John’s comment. To my dismay, he is correct, not even with a commitment to automatic monthly contributions can you get around the $3,000 minimum initial investment. That’s way too high!
I’m in the midst of teaching a Corporate Finance class for MBA students at a local university. Some of the concepts, although rather complicated, have important real world applicability. One of those uber-important concepts is, NET PRESENT VALUE (NPV). It is a method to put a dollar amount on future cash payments. It’s great if you win the lottery and want to determine whether to choose the lump sum payment or monthly option. Or what if you or your folks want to determine the present value of their monthly social security or annuity checks.
In investing, large gains and large losses go with the territory. Rarely do you know which investments will outperform and which ones will underperform.
So, don’t judge your investing performance too frequently, either the good or the bad performers.
El Carino and I are within ten to fifteen years of retirement. Although I don’t know whether we want to retire at that time, I’m certain we would like the OPTION TO RETIRE. I am presently focused on captial preservation and modest growth.
Everyone knows that keeping up with in an individual stock can be a part time job. Investing in individual stocks requires that you monitor the performance of your investment on a consistent base. You have to read quarterly reports, listen to conference calls, and stay abreast of any material changes in your stock investment. That’s a lot of work!
The Friedberg Family Portfolio Today (For informational purposes only) “Of course. I favor passive investing for most investors, because markets are amazingly successful devices for incorporating information into stock prices.” Merton Miller I love it when an economist espouses my opinion! Short and sweet; this quote is the premise of the Friedberg personal portfolio. In…
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