Based on the results of a quiz sent out by FINRA, Millennials are significantly less financially literate than preceding generations. When asked five questions about economics and finance, only 24% could answer four or five questions correctly, compared to 38% of Generation Xers (see graph). Continue reading Millennials and Financial Literacy
With the prospects of rising interest rates, investors may be re-thinking the role and purpose of fixed-income (bonds) investments within their investment portfolio.
Continue reading The Role of Fixed-Income Investments and Portfolio Allocation
Written By: Jason T. Willms
There has been a long held stigma against making changes to a 401(k) plan, but in order to maximize returns, observation and stewardship are imperative. 401(k)’s are designed to ignore short term volatility, but the intelligent investor can capitalize on these fluctuations to strengthen their portfolio for retirement.
As the close of 2016 quickly approaches, investor’s should start thinking ahead, reviewing and taking advantage of tax saving strategies. Here are three important tips that will help investor’s manage tax consequences, while helping to better manage their investment portfolio(s).
Continue reading Three Important Year-End Tax Planning Tips for Investors
As 2016 is nearing year end, now may be an ideal time for investors to review their portfolio investments, making necessary rebalancing changes.
Two of the most important decisions an investor must make when constructing portfolios are the 1) allocation of the portfolio assets between stocks, bonds, cash and other investments and 2) the diversification of securities within those asset classes.
Managing a portfolio around a concentrated position(s) may be one of the most difficult concepts for investors. A “concentrated position” is an investment holding that represents a disproportionate percentage of a portfolio. Investors who choose to ignore concentrated positions within their portfolios are taking unnecessary risks. Rarely does a concentrated position resolve itself. Instead, investors need to adopt a strategy to systematically alleviate this concentrated risk. Continue reading Concentrated Portfolios – The Elephant in Your Portfolio
Guest Blog: Sandy Gallemore, Director and Vice President for Education, InvestEd Inc.
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A mutual fund is a pool of money from many shareholders that is invested in stocks, bonds, or other investment assets. In general, mutual funds may be identified as those that charge a sales fee (load funds) and those that do not charge a sales fee (no-load funds). Many of the load funds offer several classes of shares.
While each share class of a given mutual fund has the same investment policies and objectives and includes money in the same investments, the fees associated with each class likely will cause some difference in the performance results. When a fund offers several share classes, the investor is able to select the class that best suits that investor’s goals and time horizon. The main share classes are identified as Class A shares, Class B shares, and Class C shares. Continue reading Mutual Fund Share Classes
For many years, security valuation was viewed as an esoteric theory, mainly left to academicians. Investors did not clearly understand, nor have the computing power, to carry out the developing theory. Today, however, times have changed. MBA’s, who have had a steady diet of quantitative investment analysis, have stormed Wall Street. Sophisticated personal computers are now not only commonplace, but also essential to compete in a challenging world. The effect has been to elevate security valuation methods to an important new level in the day to day decision making process of both professional and individual investors.
Continue reading Security Valuation and Quantitative Analysis
One of the basic premises of investing is that investors attempt to maximize the returns from their investments. In doing so, it is assumed that investors are risk averse, that is, given a choice between two assets of equal rate of return, an investor will select the asset with the lower level of risk. Although this relationship does not imply that all investors are risk averse, it does mean that there is a positive relationship between expected return and expected risk. So how do we define risk? Continue reading Effective Portfolio Management – Understanding Risk