As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and more!

Investing

Convert to Vanguard Admiral Shares Now

by Flexo

Last week, Vanguard decided to offer its lower-cost, more exclusive Admiral Class of fund shares to more investors. For most Vanguard index funds, any customer with a balance of at least $10,000 can convert their investment from the standard Investor shares to Admiral shares. Most managed funds require a $50,000 minimum to qualify. Previously, investors ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

Sue Your Broker When Your Investments Lose Value

by Flexo

I know Larry Hagman from watching re-runs of I Dream of Jeannie, but he’s apparently better known as the answer to the question, “Who played J.R.?”. Hagman’s now in the news, not because his next movie is in production, but because he has won $1.1 million plus legal fees in a suit against Citigroup. That’s ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

Buying Gold: ETFs and Bullion

by Flexo

Over the past few weeks, the price of gold (expressed in dollars) has increased to all-time highs. This is true if you don’t adjust historical prices for inflation. This and the price increase that began for the recession have fueled a surge in interest in investing in gold. Investors are looking to ride this wave. ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

OptionsHouse Online Discount Broker Review

by Flexo

If you take a look at our best online discount brokers page, you’ll notice that OptionsHouse leads the way as the cheapest broker to place a trade with online. While commission structure is a motivating factor in choosing an online discount broker, it shouldn’t be the only factor. Customer service, trading tools, fees and overall ... Continue reading this article…

1 comment Read the full article →

The Long-Term Prospects for Stocks: Game Over?

by Flexo

For as long as I’ve been paying attention, which admittedly is only the last ten or so years of my total thirty-four, personal finance experts have been extolling stocks as the best long-term investments. Over long periods of time they provide more growth than any other type of investment like bonds, with an expected rate ... Continue reading this article…

21 comments Read the full article →

Vanguard Expands Target Date Funds to Young Investors

by Flexo

Do you plan to retire in 2055? For some reason, that particular year strikes me as the distant future. It’s only 45 years from now — a year today’s 20-year-olds will be checking out of the cubicle and checking into active adult communities. Perhaps it’s because it’s one century after the year Dr. Brown had ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

TD Ameritrade In Trouble For Misleading Investors

by Flexo

According to the Pennsylvania Securities Commission, brokers for TD Ameritrade misled investors in 2007 in order to sell a mutual fund, taking advantage of customers looking for higher returns. A certain mutual fund, the Reserve Yield Plus Fund, was sold as a high-rate investment to investors looking for a money market fund. The brokers allegedly ... Continue reading this article…

3 comments Read the full article →

P/E Ratios

by Flexo

I’m not a skilled investor, particularly when it comes to short-term prognostication, and my long-term track record has yet to be established considering my first investing decision was less than ten years ago. I don’t invest in many individual stocks. My 401(k) includes company stock as part of my employer’s matching contribution, and I opted ... Continue reading this article…

12 comments Read the full article →

SmartMoney’s Top 10 Discount Brokers

by Flexo

Discount brokers are everywhere. Not long ago, only a few companies offered the ability to trade stocks with low commissions. If you wanted to trade with a full-service brokerage, it might have cost $30 for each transaction. For this fee, you would talk with a broker assigned to your account, who would help you make ... Continue reading this article…

8 comments Read the full article →

Financial Services Companies Get Ready for Boomers

by Flexo

The Baby Boomer Generation consists of Americans born between about 1946 and about 1964. Many individuals in this generation are approaching the typical retirement age, as defined by the U.S. government’s tax and benefit policies. While some are delaying their retirement thanks in part to recent poor stock market performance, underfunded nest eggs, and the ... Continue reading this article…

5 comments Read the full article →

How to Invest $300,000 — Or Any Amount

by Flexo

Last week I wrote about lump sum investing vs. dollar-cost averaging, voicing the opinion that in most cases, if a lump sum is available, it’s a better choice in the long run. But how do you invest that lump sum? It’s great that the financial media has been encouraging young people to start thinking about ... Continue reading this article…

10 comments Read the full article →

Dollar-Cost Averaging

by Flexo

Is dollar-cost averaging (DCA) a sound investing strategy? In theory, dollar-cost averaging allows you to invest smaller portions of your money over a longer period of time, reducing the chance that you pay a price too high for any individual investment. If your ideal allocation calls for $50,000 to be invested in the stock market ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

Qualifying for Vanguard’s Voyager Services

by Flexo

The more money you have, the more opportunities you have to save money. That is Vanguard‘s message. I’m not sure I agree with the philosophy from a consumer standpoint, but it is a way to reward loyal customers — generally customers who make the most money for the company. Yesterday I received a notification in ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

Scottrade Discount Brokerage Review

by Flexo

This is a brief review of my experiences with the discount brokerage Scottrade. If you are interested, you can open an account at Scottrade here. I first opened my account with Scottrade a little over five years ago. At the time, my current discount brokerage, Wachovia, began charging an inactivity fee. They claimed I was ... Continue reading this article…

6 comments Read the full article →

Is It Time to Give Up On the Stock Market?

by Flexo

I’ll admit I’m nervous with my investments right now. Back at the beginning of May, the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500 and other indices, dropped sharply. This was around the time of the “flash crash,” and it appeared to me that the value of my primary vehicle for investment, VTSMX, fell irrationally. ... Continue reading this article…

32 comments Read the full article →

Discover Bank’s IRA CDs: High Interest Rates, FDIC Guarantee

by Flexo

With thirty years or so until retirement, I haven’t considered investing in certificates of deposit in my retirement accounts, money I would hopefully have no need to touch for decades. Despite recent problems, the stock market is expected to provide the best returns, even with risk, over a long period of time. But not everyone ... Continue reading this article…

0 comments Read the full article →

Vanguard Eliminates Commissions on ETF Trades

by Flexo

Vanguard seems to be one of those rare companies that wants to give customers more for less. The brokerage recently eliminated transaction fees for their proprietary exchange-traded funds (ETFs). They’ve been offering no-load, no-commission mutual funds, but with mutual funds you don’t have the flexibility to buy or sell while trading is open. While I ... Continue reading this article…

0 comments Read the full article →

Opening an IRA With a Discount Brokerage

by Flexo

As a fan of index mutual funds for the long term, I’ve stuck with first TIAA-Cref and currently Vanguard for my IRAs. I started with TIAA-Cref because when I first discovered Roth IRAs, I didn’t have enough saved to qualify for Vanguard’s minimums. Both brokerages offer low-cost options for those who want to invest in ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

The Best Way to Invest in Real Estate

by Christian

This is a guest article by Christian of Money Obedience. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to the MoneyObedience RSS feed. My parents offered a very important piece of wisdom to me: Even if everybody is doing something, you do not have to do it, too. Unfortunately I usually applied this advice to ... Continue reading this article…

4 comments Read the full article →

How to Invest With Inflation on the Way

by Greg McFarlane

This is a guest article by Greg McFarlane, the author of Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense, a financial primer for people in their twenties and thirties who know nothing about money. People have feared inflation ever since… well, since the dollar’s last rampant bout of inflation in 1977. However, there’s every reason to ... Continue reading this article…

11 comments Read the full article →
Page 4 of 19« First···23456···Last »