“While results vary from asset class to asset class and from time period to time period, experience suggests that for predicting future values, historical data appear to be quite useful with respect to standard deviations (risk), reasonably useful for correlations, and virtually useless for expected returns.” —WILLIAM F. SHARPE, 1990 Nobel Prize winner in […]
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Is There a Gender-gap in Investing?
There is a plethora of research suggesting that, at least at the individual level, women may be better investors than men. For example, a major financial institution looked at over 8 million client accounts and found that women outperformed men by 0.4%, while another popular study, conducted by Warwick Business School found an even greater […]
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What To Do With Cash Reserves
In times of crisis, you don’t want to be shaking pennies out of a piggy bank. Having a financial safety net in place can ensure that you’re protected when a financial emergency arises. One way to accomplish this is by setting up a cash reserve, a pool of readily available funds that can help you […]
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Balancing a Retirement Portfolio with Asset Allocation
The combination of investments you choose is as important as the individual investments themselves. In fact, many experts argue that it’s even more important, since the mix of various types of investments accounts for most of the ups and downs of a portfolio’s return. Each type of investment, or asset class, has strengths and weaknesses […]
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The Roth 401(k)
Some employers offer 401(k) plans that allow participants the opportunity to make Roth 401(k) contributions. If you’re lucky enough to work for an employer that offers this option, Roth contributions could play an important role in helping enhance your retirement income. WHAT IS A ROTH 401(K)? A Roth 401(k) is simply a traditional 401(k) plan […]
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Understanding Risk — Pick Your Poison!
Currently, the public is quite focused on volatility. This is otherwise known as Market Risk—referring to the possibility that an investment will lose value because of a general decline in financial markets, due to one or more economic, political or other of a myriad of risk factors. Recently, you may have heard me describe that […]