Category Archives: Investing

Clean House

It is 2008; do you know what your mutual funds are doing? With the arrival of the New Year, it is a perfect time to clean out your closets and check on your financial portfolios. After the year ends, mutual fund companies release their year-end distributions reports for tax purposes. This is a perfect opportunity to evaluate your current investments and their performance. The year 2007 saw a lot of profitable funds and healthy increases for many. Therefore, if you have funds that appear to be consistent losers – it could be time to look elsewhere. At the very least, … Continue reading →

Bear or Bull

If you watch the stock page of the newspaper, you will often hear the terms bear and bull in relationship to the market. Some of you may or may not know what this means, and many of us have no idea how these two animals become involved in economics. Traditions say that when the stock price averages are in an upswing, then it is bull market. When it is in reverse and the price averages are going down, then it is a bear market. These terms are mainly used in relationship to the U.S. stock markets. Even in a bull … Continue reading →

Federal Reserve Board’s Rate Cut

If you caught the headlines today, you already know that the Fed made a big decision this week to cut the discount rate. What you may not know, is exactly what this means. The discount rate is the interest rate the Federal Reserve Bank charges to individual private banks when they take a loan from the Fed. Normally this interest rate is only evaluated during regularly scheduled meetings. This week the Fed stepped out of the norm to adjust the rate between meetings. This is not a typical process, and the last time it occurred was September 17, 2001 shortly … Continue reading →

Index Funds

The following is a brief financial planning lesson for you. While everyone has their own opinions about where to put your investments, this is one concept we all should consider: index funds. What is an index fund? It is a mutual fund that is managed to follow the average rate of the market it is in (the index). An example would be an index fund for the U.S. stock market. The fund manager’s goal would be to maintain an average increase in the funds value that matches the average overall increase in the stock market as a whole. What are … Continue reading →

Are You Ready to Buy a Home?

You may be at a point when you feel that you should buy a house instead of renting. Everyone is telling you that renting is simply throwing your money away, and that you aren’t building any equity. You are not sure if you are ready to make the leap into home ownership. Here are a few financial aspects to consider before deciding. 1) Often people will buy a home before they are truly ready and finance it at one hundred percent through a variety of methods. If you find that you need to do this, you should carefully consider if … Continue reading →

Financial Advisors

Even if you feel that you do not have enough money to talk to a financial advisor, you may want to take advantage of the services one could provide for you. A financial advisor can do more than simply help you with your investments; she can sit down and help you plan out your future. A good financial advisor will take the time to sit down and learn your goals and dreams, and then work with you to help you achieve those goals. Your financial advisor will likely look at your spending and saving habits. She may be able to … Continue reading →

Investing in Real Estate

One of the most solid investments available is real estate. In fact today many people consider their homes their biggest investments, and plan to sell them and simplify when they retire. The nice thing about investing in real estate is that the property is going to rise in value over time. You may be thinking about investing in the stock market, but if you have enough money on hand you would do well to diversify and invest in real estate. The most basic investment is that of buying a home for your family. This should most likely be your first … Continue reading →

Basic Investing

If you have been wanting to invest money in the stock market, but are not quite sure what to purchase and how to go about it, you will need to do some research. Most experts suggest that you begin your venture into the stock market by investing in mutual funds, because there is less risk involved. While there is less risk, there is also a lower rate of return. If it is the only money that you have in savings then I would suggest going with a more secure investment, like a mutual fund. When you are looking at purchasing … Continue reading →

Should You Use a Financial Planner?

If you have considered investing your money in stock or in some sort of plan outside of your 401K, then you should consider hiring a financial planner or investment advisor. There are distinct advantages to hiring a company or an individual to act as your financial planner. Generally people who are offering these services have access to a wide variety of investment options. They should be able to explain the risks related to each investment option to you. They should be able to help you plan according to your individual needs. There has been a movement of people doing their … Continue reading →