As recently as the beginning of 2012 there was hope that a recovering U.S. economy would allow the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates from the near zero percent level. This would be good for the millions of retirement and fixed income investors who have been scrambling for the last few years to figure […]
As global financial markets continue their volatile way, many investors have thrown in the towel regarding investing in stocks and have moved all their money into bonds. As investors stay glued to every news report that may shed light on the potential collapse of the Euro, as well as a slew of new data showing […]
With social media being all the rage, the question is whether investors can use it to generate higher returns. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Zack Miller, who literally wrote the book on the topic and is a leading expert on using social media to become a better investor. For brands aiming […]
Open up a book on Investing 101 and it will tell you that a stock’s return will be directly related to its risk. The Investing 101 book states that if you want to have high returns, you have to take on enough risk that ensures if you are wrong, it will end up costing you […]
In the ever constant search for income in today’s near-zero interest-rate environment, investors have been forced to abandon traditional fixed-income investments such as Treasury bonds and insured bank deposits (CDs) and look for more creative sources like lp claims study that proves to be quite beneficial to all. In this column I have mentioned various […]
While the media is preoccupied with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s last minute, pull a rabbit out of the hat, national unity government, the more important news was made by a nameless finance ministry official. I am not one to say I told you so, but I told you so! About 6 months ago I wrote […]
I recently sat with a prospective client who had an investment account worth about $450,000 held with a large, well-known US asset-management firm. As I was reviewing his holdings, what struck me the most was the amount of stocks he was holding. I counted more than 150 individual companies. I asked him how much he […]
As women continue to play a greater role in the workforce, the need for them to manage their finances becomes even more important. In an eye-opening article in US News & World Report last week about the state of women in the US economy, Rick Newman wrote: “But women tend to be better educated than […]
Your parents should live and be well. The question is: will they leave you an inheritance, and if so how much? When planning for the future should you factor in an inheritance? When working on financial plans for clients the trickiest issue that usually comes up is inheritance. Inheritance is one of those issues that […]
Trying to cherry-pick a market low is virtually impossible. A mistake investors often do is to try to time the market and guess when an asset will bottom out. But it’s very rare when an investor can pick the exact market low. As I write this column on the 15th anniversary of my mother’s passing, […]
