Here are several interesting articles from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond this week.
Cathy from AllFinancialMatters and Chief Family Officer evaluated the current stock market. What do you do now? She sticks with index funds and dollar cost averaging. When the market was at the top a little while ago, I changed my 401(k) contributions to mostly money markets. Now may be the time to change my allocation back and use that cash to pick up equities at a lower price. Yes, it’s market timing, but only with a tiny bit of my portfolio.
“Useful trivia” is an oxymoron; by definition, “trivia” is useless information. Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity shares some trivia about how large bank transactions are reported to the feds. All transactions over $10,000 are reported, which theoretically includes 0% balance transfers from credit cards to savings accounts.
Five Cent Nickel announces the Honda Accord Diesel, purported to get 63 miles per gallon with clean energy. I’m skeptical of diesel, but the oil companies seem to like it as a way to stay in the game.
Free Money Finance agrees that time shares are a purchase, not an investment. That’s one thing I don’t believe I’ll ever spend a dime on.
Mighty Bargain Hunter believes the market is always efficient and is in need of nothing, certainly not a correction.
Get Rich Slowly analyzes personal finance magazines to determine if they’re worth the cost. I subscribed to Money for a year, but most of the good stuff was available for free online. My verdict: none of them are worth the subscription cost unless you get them for free.
In basic Investing in a Down Market (or Any Time You Feel Nervous), The Simple Dollar suggests letting your emotions rule your investment practices. I don’t think you should pull out of an investment as soon as you feel nervous. Highly emotional people would be over-reacting and incurring transaction fees when their mood about the market changes, usually inspired by the over-reactive media.
Money, Matter and More Musings lists 12 things he’ll never spend a dime on. I still believe the electric toothbrush I bought a year ago for $30 was well worth the investment. My teeth are definitely cleaner and it’s less effort on my part.
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My point was not that emotions should rule your investment practices, but that if an investment’s volatility makes you uncomfortable to the point that you’re not sleeping at night, etc., you should be in a more conservative investment permanently.
Thanks for the mention, Flexo!
I completely agree on the toothbrush – my $120 Sonicare Elite was worth every penny (even though I couldn’t use it for eight months while I was pregnant!).