If you want the luxury of not understanding anything about investment, a financial advisor will do it all for you. It’s just that it will often cost you a lot of money. You should still have an advisor, but a low-cost one.
Picking Stocks vs Investing In Index Funds
New York Times Your Money columnist Ron Lieber wrote an interesting article Picking Stocks After Facebook. He had someone look up the best performing stocks since 1982 in the Wilshire 5000 Index, which is basically everything except very tiny ones. It turns out that most of the best performing stocks are largely unknown (to me […]
Three Secrets To A Fat 401k
Making your 401k work as well as a pension is not rocket science.
Diversify Stocks and Bonds Investments With Rental Property
A co-worker told me she bought a house as a rental property in Las Vegas (we are nowhere near Las Vegas). She said a few other co-workers thought it was a great idea and bought there too. Clark Howard, a consumer advocate and personal finance guru on radio, also says now it’s a great time […]
Clearing Firm: Your Broker’s Broker
You learn so many things if you pay close attention. On my recent brokerage account switch from Wells Fargo to TD Ameritrade, I noticed this in my transaction history: Transfer of security from First Clearing Who’s First Clearing? I thought I was transferring from Wells Fargo Advisors. It turns out that my account had been […]
Brokerage Account Closeout Fee Tax Deductible Or Not?
By moving my brokerage account from Wells Fargo to TD Ameritrade, I earned a signup bonus from TD Ameritrade, but I also had to pay a $95 account closeout fee to Wells Fargo. I could’ve left the minimum amount necessary to keep the Wells Fargo account open and free, but because the signup bonus more […]
Brokerage Account Signup Bonus Taxable Or Not?
I’m following the lead from my own post Huge Bonus Offers From Brokers: Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, ETrade, Merrill Edge. Although I’m satisfied with the service of WellsTrade brokerage account provided by Wells Fargo Advisors, the huge bonus offered by its competitors is just too good to pass up. I moved my brokerage account from […]
1099 Tax Form Packages From Vanguard, Fidelity, Wells Fargo, and E*Trade
I’m done with my taxes. I mailed the returns last week. With taxable investments and selling stocks from vested RSUs and ESPP purchases, it can get complicated. Any help from the mutual fund companies and brokerage firms would be welcome. In this post I will review the 1099 packages I received from different companies — […]
The Best 529 Plan Age-Based Investment Option
Reader Vicki left this comment on my previous post 529 Plans: Age-Based Options Don’t Make Sense: “I was just about to enroll in an age based plan here but pulled up your page before I signed on the dotted line. Help!! I just want this over with. I thought I had looked at all options […]
Best Investment Options With Fidelity BrokerageLink
401k plans are slowly getting better. My plan added a low-cost collective trust. My wife’s plan added a self-directed brokerage account, also known as a brokerage window. Her plan is managed by Fidelity. Fidelity calls it BrokerageLink. Some 401k plans managed by Charles Schwab also have this feature. Schwab calls it PCRA — Personal Choice […]
What Did You Do When the Market Was Down?
Do you remember those days last summer when the Dow went down 400 points one day, then it went up 400 points the next day, before it went down another 400 points the following day? I saved in my notebook this excellent post on the Bogleheads forum by the remarkable poster nisiprius: A time to […]
Collective Trust vs Mutual Fund: What’s the Difference?
My 401k plan recently added a new investment option. It’s a collective trust from BlackRock — BlackRock EAFE Equity Index Collective Trust. It invests in stocks in developed countries, tracking the MSCI EAFE index. What Is a Collective Trust? A collective trust is like a mutual fund but it only sells to institutional investors like […]