Index Funds
« Previous EntriesWise Advice From Mr. Bogle: Set it and Forget it
Monday, May 26th, 2008From today’s Houston Chronicle comes this advice from John Bogle:
John Bogle, founder of the nation’s second largest mutual fund company, dismisses many of products hawked these days by financial companies as largely self-serving. His advice for investors seems to square with one popular marketing pitch: Set it and forget it.
The phrase serves as a delightfully [...]
Should This Guy Leave VanKampen?
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008One thing I have noticed from the Money Magazine mention is that I am getting A LOT more email from people asking for my opinion on various topics. If the subject matter is blog-worthy, I’ll consider writing about it. Not so much because I’m an “expert” but more because a lot of AFM [...]
Investing For the Long Term - What’s a Good Portfolio Allocation?
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008I received this email from a reader:
I was wondering if you could do a post on what you think would be a good long term stock portfolio allocation. I saw an earlier post of yours on Kiplinger’s 2008 recommended allocation and tweaked it a little to create the allocation below. Like Kiplinger’s allocation, I stuck [...]
Retirement Planning & Taxes: New Questions
Monday, February 25th, 2008Tax diversity has become a more common discussion among personal finance experts in recent years. This is due not only to the plethora of tax-free, tax-advantaged, and taxable investment options that people have today, but also to the uncertainty of our future tax system.
Kiplinger’s Simple Long-Term Portfolio
Friday, February 22nd, 2008I was thumbing through Kiplinger’s Mutual Funds 2008 and saw their model portfolio for long-term investors. They define long-term as 10 or more years away. This is an all-stock portfolio:
Kiplinger’s Long-Term Portfolio(Using Vanguard Funds)
35%
Large-Cap Domestic Stocks
Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX)
25%
Small-Cap Domestic Stocks
Vanguard Small-Cap (NAESX)
25%
Large-Cap International Stocks
Vanguard Total International Stock Fund (VGTSX)
10%
Real Estate Investment [...]
What if You Invest on the Wrong Day - Part 2
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008The other day I wrote about the impact of investing on the wrong day (meaning, investing right before a big market decline). Today I thought I would follow-up with another graphic that really shows the impact of that crazy week in 1987. For this chart I assumed:
1. $100,000 lump sum investment into [...]
What if You Invest on the Wrong Day?
Monday, February 18th, 2008This post was inspired by TheDigeratiLife’s post on lump sum vs. dollar-cost averaging.
Although the chances of investing a lump sum on the wrong day (meaning you purchase a large amount right before a big drop) are pretty slim, there’s always the possibility that it could happen and the results could really impact a portfolio. [...]
What’s Better Than A 20% Return?
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008What could possibly be better than a 20% return on your money?? I’ll tell you, and it isn’t a gimmick.
The ‘Lazy Portfolio’ Results Are In
Tuesday, January 8th, 2008Paul Ferrell over at MarketWatch recently posted the returns for the eight ‘Lazy’ portfolios he highlighted in his column last year. Here’s a quick look at the results:
You can check out Paul’s column for more details on each portfolio. Be sure and read the comments to Paul’s column. Lots of people don’t [...]
When an Active Mutual Fund Manager Beats the Market is it Luck?
Friday, January 4th, 2008For the second year in a row Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Value Trust mutual fund underperformed the S&P 500 Index (-6.7% return for the Value Trust vs. 5.49% for the S&P 500). These two years of underperformance come after a fifteen year run in which Value Trust outperformed the S&P 500. All this [...]
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