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 […]
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 […]
TIPS Auction Step By Step: Know the Schedule
This is the first post in a series on buying new-issue TIPS in an auction. Other posts in the series include: TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Announcement TIPS Auction Step By Step: Place Order TIPS Auction Step By Step: Read the Results Tentative Auction Schedule How do you know when they will hold […]
Imported Spreadsheets to Zoho
I mentioned in another post that I started using Zoho recently. Zoho offers a suite of "office" software online. They have online word processor, spreadsheet, presentation and many other types of software that traditionally resides on a local computer. Having these software online lets me access my documents from anywhere. It also lets me share […]
A Business That Punishes Its Largest Customers
Here’s a Jeopardy question. A financial service charges no fee if you have less than $100,000 with them. If your account has $100,000 or more, they charge you $100 a year account maintenance fee. If you create multiple accounts, each with less than $100,000, then you will pay no fee for all your accounts. The […]
Hiring a Financial Advisor: Don’t Settle for 1% Fee
I listen to the Marketplace Money program on public radio every week via their podcast. It’s a great program. Occasionally, I disagree with the answers given. Some time ago a caller Sue asked about finding a financial advisor after she inherited $1 million. She said she’d like to get some professional help because she and […]
Uncover The Hidden Fees In Your 401(k) Plan
Marketplace Money, the personal finance program on public radio, had a segment on 401k plan fees a few weeks ago. The host Tess Vigeland interviewed pension consultant Matthew Hutcheson, who said 90% or more of all 401k plans pay 3-3.5% in fees. Here’s a quote from the transcript: Vigeland: How high do some of these […]
Fed Opens the Vault
Make it 3 for 3. Yesterday I said the Fed might come out with an emergency cut after the stock market dropped below the previous low. Well they didn’t do exactly that but they pulled out something else. They are going to open their vault and let banks borrow against the mortgage backed bonds they […]
Want to Encourage Savings? Simplify the Tax Rules
It has been reported that the savings rate in the United States is negative. I’ve heard arguments saying it isn’t really negative but I think it’s fair to say that the savings rate is very low. Everybody wants to encourage people to save, which is great. We already have a hodgepodge of tax favored programs. […]