You’ve heard it before, the millionaires are not the folks riding around in Cadillacs and Porches but are those living in the modest home driving an older car. Hallam’s path to millionaire status was peppered with a cheapskate lifestyle for many years. This guy rode his bike 70 miles per day to work through rain and sleet.
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I’m one of those dinosaurs that started her first IRA in her 20’s at the beginning of the IRA movement. At that time, there was no such thing as a Roth IRA, so I went with a traditional IRA.
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In economic terms, the Federal Reserve Bank which decides monetary policy is trying to pull our economy out of a recession and jump start growth. As part of this effort, the low interest rates are designed to promote spending by consumers and corporations. Firms fund growth through expansion and frequently take on debt to finance that growth.
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Knowledge of market behavior will help you stay the course during market fluctuations. Once you understand that the ups and downs in economic and investment returns are normal occurrences, you can learn not to be surprised when the market tanks for a year or so.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“(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!
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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.
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peer to peer lending.
