conservative investments

Investing works best if you set it and forget it.  However, at least once a year every investor should set aside some time to review their investment activities from the previous year.  February is a great time to do this investment review because if you wait too long you’ll find yourself in the thick of [...]

We’ve all heard the stories of lotto winners who win millions, think they’re set for life, and then go broke within a decade. Or people who inherit large sums of money and end up in financial ruin, family feuds, or both. The word “windfall” can mean different things to different people — if you’re young [...]

One of the great gifts associated with the 2008-2009 events was an opportunity to get some free credits in the school of life. School tuition can be expensive so I am always thankful when life decides to offer me some valuable lesson for free. Personally, I loved the fact that I got to experience the [...]

There are two rules often cited by investors that sound similar but that in fact make very different claims. In this article, I’ll describe the differences between the two rules — the Multiply-by-25 Rule and the 4-Percent Rule.
The Multiply-by-25 Rule
The purpose of The Multiply-by-25 Rule is to tell an investor how much he needs to [...]

The recent trend in bank CD (certificate of deposit) rates has, needless to say, been a negative one. If you were following deposit rates even 1 year ago you would have witnessed a unique time in which banks where offering some of the most lucrative rates in recent history. During the winter – spring of [...]

My company made Vanguard Target Retirement Funds available for our 401k accounts about two years ago. However, I have not used them preferring to manually manage my own portfolio using traditional funds that include bond, large-cap, small-cap, international stock, and REIT funds. However, Target Retirement Funds are not without merits — in fact, I’ve been [...]

Asset allocation is an investing a strategy for maximizing gains while minimizing risks in your investment portfolio. It involves diversifying your assets among different broad categories of investments, such as equity, fixed income, and money market, etc.  By reducing your investment risks, you’re in a better position to meet your financial goals.
How Asset Allocation Works
The [...]

Kent Irwin, who recently wrote a guest article: Is Suze Orman Right, Can You Be Your Own Financial Planner?, sent me a free license to use his eFinPLAN online financial planning software. In this post, I am going to provide you with my initial experience, and I will follow up with a second post to [...]

This is the 2nd issue of the Ask The Expert column by Larry Swedroe. You can see Larry’s full biography and important disclaimer below. If you are interested in having your question answered by Larry, please send me an email via the contact page.
Now, let’s get to the questions and answers (please note that the [...]

Here are 6 cool financial math tricks and rules that I know about. These are pretty common, so you may know them already. Take a look. Do you know any of these?
1. Rule of 72 To Double Your Money
The rule says that to find the number of years required to double your investment, you just [...]