Happy New Year!

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Here are a few thoughts to consider as we begin 2012. The majority of the money and investing related news for the past week are either focused on the past or the future. Every media outlet will have reviews of 2011 and predictions for 2012. This news trend will continue for the rest of January. While it is helpful to look back at the past, don’t spend too much of your time looking in the rear view mirror. As you know, you may learn from the past but you cannot change it. Congratulate yourself for your successes and good decisions. […] Read more »

Where Do You Focus When You Invest?

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Let’s have a little fun and begin with an exercise. Begin by taking a break and go sit anywhere outside. Once your comfortable, take your hand and hold it about a foot in front of your eyes. It’s probably been a while since you really looked at your hands so focus for at least a minute on every detail. Study your nails or the lines in your skin for at least a minute. This next step may be challenging but it is critical that you keep your focus on your hand without allowing your eyes to refocus. Now while focusing […] Read more »

Managing your Investments is Like Baking a Souffle

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I love to cook! A few years ago, I decided to try to bake the often dreaded souffle. NPR had a feature on The Science of the Perfect Souffle that made me crave the delicate and light texture of the aerated eggs for a nice brunch. There are a few challenges if you want a perfect souffle and NPR’s Joe Palca turned to Jeffrey Buben, owner and head chef at Vidalia, a restaurant in Washington, D.C, for the perfect souffle. The really neat thing about souffles is they can be a main dish when the eggs are mixed with herbs […] Read more »

Investing Tip: Don’t Be Like an “Overly Emotional Teenaged Girl”

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CNNMoney features an excellent column by Paul R. La Monica today contrasting the “overly emotional teenaged girl with an unrequited crush. OMG! My life is over!” stock market investors with the seemingly apathetic and “too-cool-for-school kids that don’t get bothered by anything” bond market investors. I encourage you to read the column as Paul, (who has a really great first name), hits the nail firmly on the head. You can find it here: The United States of Apathy. Investing in the stock market is a long term process. In any given year the market may rise or fall significantly and, […] Read more »

What Will You Do With Your “No Restaurants in November” Savings?

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If you’ve accepted Brad’s challenge for No Restaurants in November by the end of the month will have saved up a sum of money. Last year, Brad saved $524.25 during the 2010 version of No Restaurant Month. Your savings will depend on how much you make and then spend at restaurants. When November ends, what should you do with the money you saved? Pay down your debt! First, if you have debt, use your November savings to reduce your outstanding debts, particularly the higher interest rate credit cards. You might think about what those balances represent and, if it’s financing […] Read more »

Should you “Occupy Wall Street”?

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You may be aware of a growing social protest movement that began on Wall Street a few weeks ago. According to their website: “Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.” And now this protest is metastasizing and spreading to 25 […] Read more »

With a Falling Market Should I Bail on my Investments?

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The markets fell, for the most part, during the third quarter continuing the challenge for many people to remain invested. Some investors moved out of the market already and will eventually have to decide when to invest again. That is the challenge for short-term investors and for those who attempt to time the market. The advantage of long term investing is the stress and strain of rapidly fluctuating markets is something you can ignore. Here are a few important questions you should consider. First, do you have adequate savings and emergency funds? (At least 6 months of your net take […] Read more »

Three Keys to Financial Fitness

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I was planning on writing about a new survey from Prudential Retirement Services today. It is a very interesting survey from 2006-2011 of primary or joint financial decision makers who are between 45-75, have a household income of at least $100,000 ($50,000 if already retired), household investable assets of at least $100,000, and retirement savings of at least $100,000. Many who fall in this “retirement red zone” have serious concerns about their ability to maintain lifestyle in retirement. For those of you who would like to read the study, here’s a link to the Prudential website: http://news.prudential.com/images/20026/2011ChangingAttitudesAboutRetIncome.pdf It is worth […] Read more »

Investing — The Whole Return

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Losing money can really make you angry, but, eventually, you can make up the losses. But when time is lost, you will never get it back. The factor of time in investment return calculations is limited to the time period of the investment, e.g. One Year, Year To Date, Trailing Three Years, Calendar Year, etc. Return calculations are objective and purely mathematical. The value of your time is left out of the calculation of investment return. What about the time you spend as an investor? What is it worth? Isnʼt that part of your whole return and shouldnʼt you include […] Read more »

Investing — Medically Speaking

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Investing is like medicine. If you want to lose weight, any doctor can offer medically proven suggestions such as reducing calories and/or increasing exercise. If you want to grow your portfolio, over time, any professional can offer recommendations to help you by increasing your investments in the market and helping you remain invested when times are tough. But, neither doctors nor investment professionals can help everyone. Imagine a man telling his doctor he wants to lose 30 pounds without exercise and to include a dozen donuts per day in his weight loss plan. You can imagine the doctor’s response. It […] Read more »

An Idiots Guide to Investing

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“You’re an idiot!” She said this to me in response to overhearing me discuss the theme of my book, Investiphobia: Overcome Your Deepest Investment Fears with a friend on the deck at Starbucks. At least she waited until my friend was gone to make her observation. So, I asked her why she believes I am an “idiot” and had a reasonable discussion despite her comment. Surprisingly, she based her conclusion on two observations she made relating to the purpose of my book and it’s message. She said if my purpose is to help people overcome and eliminate their fears, I’m […] Read more »

Lessons for Investors from Irene

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Irene and a KFC Cup

Millions of Americans were affected by Irene, whether it was a hurricane or a tropical storm. The debate, for many, seems to center on whether reporters and forecasters “over-hyped” the strength of the storm as it approached the East Coast. The answers to that debate are not relevant but there is one lesson we can learn from the experience of forecasters as they plotted the probable track and strength of Irene. At a very basic level, there are two parts to forecasting hurricanes. The first is performed by computers and this generates a variety of possible tracks and levels of […] Read more »

Thinking About Joining the Gold Rush?

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The latest Gold Rush made history yesterday when the SPDR Gold Shares ETF, Ticker GLD, passed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF in value. Both funds are managed by State Street Corp. As fearful investors sell stocks and invest heavily in the precious metal, GLD climbed to a total value of $77.5 billion to the SPY at $76.7 billion. The Wall Street Journal provided an excellent article yesterday “Gold Reigns even on the Stock Market”. What do you own when you buy gold? Read more »

Book Excerpt – Investiphobia: Overcome Your Deepest Investment Fears

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The Fear of Thinking Long-Term “When you obsess over how your investment is doing from day-to-day or week-to-week, you could be more tempted to tinker with it instead of sticking to your long-term diversified plan. Not to mention, you’ll probably lose sleep.” Erin Burt, Kiplinger.com, March 13, 2008  “Asset allocation, not stock-picking, not sector funds, not guessing the direction of the Dow Jones averages, is the key to financial success.”   Jim Cramer, Intro to The Little Book that Saves Your Assets, by David Darst One of the most popular investment shows on TV is the Jim Cramer show, Mad […] Read more »