purchase decisions

In general, people want to make financially responsible decisions when they go shopping. Often times, I look at two apparently identical items that priced differently.  On some occasions, the difference between two products is as obvious as the price.  The question is: should you buy the cheaper item or the more expensive one?  Do you [...]

Most financial advisors will recommend against any attempts to time the market. It can’t be done, they will tell you, and I agree. Timing the market or specifically identifying market tops or bottoms as opportunities to buy or sell is usually a futile effort. What financial advisors fail to tell you, however, is that market [...]

I began investing in single family homes with a good friend and business partner about 4 years ago. In that time, we’ve purchases and remodeled 5 single family homes, all of which are rented by reasonably reliable tenants. Over that time we’ve learned a thing or two about investing in real estate. In this article, [...]

Impulse buying can be the end to all financial plans. Accounts are most likely overdrawn by the end of the month or purchase decisions are regretted. This is the reason for a sinking fund for all planned or major purchases. Sinking funds are simply savings put in one particular place for a specific thing. For [...]

It is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so ask yourself if you want your child mimicking your financial practices. It’s more important than ever to provide a solid example of financial basics and talk to your kids about money to help prevent the next generation from being in more financial [...]

If you have ever had to make an insurance claim, you know that your premium dollars pay for very important protection. Hopefully, you enjoyed a hassle free claims process. If you did have problems getting your claim paid, you probably considered finding another insurer. Either way, you learned the importance of having an insurance company [...]

As someone who’s on the brink of losing his job, I have been doing my research and looking for employment opportunities. I can tell you that there are jobs out there, but it’s not easy to get one. With unemployment rate in record territory, companies can pick and choose whomever they want to hire, and [...]

This was a rather interesting week for me.  For the first time ever, I had a life insurance agent cursed at me with an F word.  The story started last summer when I tried to purchase a term life insurance policy from this agent.  He helped my parents stop the monthly payments on their whole [...]

This is the 11th 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 [...]

Last Friday, I received a question from one of my readers. He asked that I respond publicly so that others may pitch in with their opinions. However, I took it a step further and passed his question to a few blogger friends and I’ve included their answers here as well.
I am an avid reader of [...]