I don’t know who started it. Suze Orman certainly helped spread it. She says that you shouldn’t borrow from your 401k (or 403b) plan because you will be double-taxed. I did a Google search and I found this by Suze Orman: “Also, never ever borrow against your 401k plan because you will pay double taxation […]
Latest Blog Posts
Stories from Strapped: Paycheck
This is part 2 in the Strapped series. See also: Strapped: College Education Chapter 2 in Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead is Paycheck Paralysis. It says the younger generation can’t get ahead because they don’t get good jobs. They have become Bouncers, Jugglers, Tempsters, and the Pajama Class. The stories are […]
Alternatives to a High Cost 401k Or 403b Plan
This is a common problem: you have a 401k or 403b plan at work, but the plan isn’t very good. All the investment options in the plan have high expenses. The plan itself may also have some hidden fees. If the plan has a match, you contribute enough to get the full match. That’s a […]
Who Really Robbed FDIC $6 billion
I asked on Monday who robbed FDIC $6 billion from the IndyMac Bank failure. Too bad more of you didn’t chime in. Come on, don’t be shy. It’s not fun if it’s just me yapping all the time. Anyway, here are my thoughts. 1. Defaulted Borrowers. IndyMac took in deposits and lent out the money […]
Embrace the Bear Market with Overbalancing
After two false starts in January and March 2008, the stock market finally crossed over into bear market. The bear market is great because everything is cheaper. I quoted Warren Buffet in How Low Can It Go? Part 2 in January. It’s worth repeating: “If you expect to be a net saver during the next […]
Who Robbed FDIC $6 billion?
On the way back from work last Friday, I heard on the radio IndyMac Bank was closed by authorities and taken over by FDIC. IndyMac Bank had $19 billion in deposits. This failure is the largest in recent history. It matched in size the Bank of New England failure in 1991. In previous bank failures, […]
TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Results
This is the fourth installment in my TIPS auction series. The previous posts in this series were: TIPS Auction Step By Step: Know the Schedule TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Announcement TIPS Auction Step By Step: Place the Order After the auction is over, the Treasury Department publishes the official auction results on […]
TIPS Auction Step By Step: Place the Order
This is part three of the TIPS auctions series. Other posts in this series are: TIPS Auction Step By Step: Know the Schedule TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Announcement TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Results If you are interested in TIPS but you don’t want to be bothered with auctions, you […]
TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Announcement
This is part two of the TIPS auctions series. The other posts in the series are: TIPS Auction Step By Step: Know the Schedule TIPS Auction Step By Step: Place the Order TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Results If you are interested in TIPS but you don’t want to be bothered with auctions, […]
My 401k Hidden Fees Experiment
Back in March, I wrote Uncover The Hidden Fees In Your 401(k) Plan. Because the hidden fees are so hard to pin down, I gave a method which helps find out if there are hidden fees in the plan and if so how much the hidden fees are. Find in your plan’s menu one fund […]