Stocks and Bonds

Seems these days everyone has an opinion on how to make money in the stock market. Only now it’s not just the stock market, there is options, foreign exchange, commodities and bonds. And it’s no longer just investing or trading. There’s swing trading, position trading, income investing and dividend investing. Yet I’ve barely scratched the [...]

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 [...]

Investment advisers and the investment industry has continuously stressed the importance of diversification and asset allocation, however investors have often ignored this, as they were too busy chasing high returns. Since the market meltdown over a year ago investors have learned a hard lesson that asset allocation is vital to an investment portfolio. In this [...]

With the recent stock market crash, many people are understandably wary about investing. Concerns about the volatility of the stock market, and the prospect of losses during downturn, have convinced many that stock investing is not for them. However, “safer” investments like cash and bonds may not provide the needed returns for your portfolio to [...]

We hear a lot about diversifying across asset classes — owning stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. We also hear a lot about diversifying within asset classes — owning mutual funds of hundreds of stocks rather than owning a few individual stocks. But there’s another, lesser-known form of diversification from which you could benefit: Tax diversification.

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Over the past few years, options trading have become more mainstream with many discount brokers advertising options trading along with other investments such as mutual funds, stocks and bonds. There are even online discount brokers with the word “options” in their names — e.g., OptionsXpress and OptionsHouse. But what exactly are options? An option is [...]

Welcome to the 76th edition of Money Hacks Carnival. In this edition, I’ll be presenting some interesting and fun facts about money along with the submissions. For editor’s picks, please look for entries noted with (EP).

Money Fact #1: $1 bills wear out in about 17 months. Bills of larger denomination last longer because they are [...]

In this Ask the Expert with Larry Swedroe article, Randy is wondering if it’s time to go back into the high yield corporate market. However, he’s concerned that the recent market rally may be just a bear market rally. Here’s the question from Randy:
Is it safe to enter into the high yield corporate market yet, [...]

In this Ask the Expert with Larry Swedroe article, Lynnae from Being Frugal wants to know if people that are in debt should be thinking about investing, or is it best to focus on getting out of debt first. Here’s the question from Lynnae:
Is it best to get out of debt before you start investing?
Answer [...]

In this Ask the Expert with Larry Swedroe article, Rob observed that none of the alternative investments provided sufficient risk reduction to soften the impact of the current Bear Market. Diversification doesn’t seem to be working. What went wrong? Here’s the question from Randy:
Dear Larry,
I’m reading your book, The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You’ll [...]