I recently finished reading the 9th edition of Burton Malkiel’s classic text A Random Walk Down Wall Street.  First published in 1973, this book is a classic text that deserves a place on any investor’s bookshelf. 
Malkiel presents two possible security valuation models - one based on a firm foundation of value and one based on […]

I spent the afternoon today at a meeting of the local investment club.  Despite being the youngest person in the room by at least 45 years, I enjoy the meetings and feel that I can both learn from and contribute to the group.
The speaker today was an “advisor” from Edward Jones, who gave one of […]

In a previous post, I detailed my thoughts on investing for retirement in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). I just finished reading Burton Malkiel’s masterpiece A Random Walk Down Wall Street and am more certain than ever that a buy-and-hold strategy using low-cost index funds in a Roth IRA is the wisest retirement strategy for a […]

While the United States equity market is a juggernaut comprising almost 55% of all global equity, it is not the only kid on the block. The rest of the world participates in the purchase and sale of securities, many of which are available to the American investor. What are the pros and cons […]

Here is your chance.  Join the Quarterlife Finance game at Investopedia and you can try your hand at playing the market without running the risk of getting burned. 
Here is how it works:  First, visit the above link to join the game.  You will automatically receive $100,000 in game dollars.  You can then place trades to buy […]

The subprime mortgage mess has firmly spilled over into the average investor’s pocketbook.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 340 points today before recovering to opening levels.  Even so, uncertainties about big lenders, namely Countrywide, have lots of smart folks pretty shaken up - and the major indices are down over 4% this month […]

There is a new kid on the block when it comes to discount brokerages. Just2Trade.com, launched today, promises unlimited online equity trading at $2.50 per trade, regardless of trading volume, with no maintenance fees and no minimum balances!  For IRA accounts, which should be your first priority as a Quarterlife investor, there is a setup fee of […]

So you have a Roth IRA, you are saving $333 per month or thereabouts, you understand the principles of dollar cost averaging, and you have have a target asset allocation.  Now it is time to choose a group of investments that will make up your retirement portfolio.
You have a wide variety of investments available to […]

You don’t need to be a great stock-picker or have a degree in investment banking to make money through investments.  In fact, study after study has shown that the vast majority of the returns from any given portfolio result from the asset allocation of that portfolio.  In other words, by simply choosing a nicely diversified […]

The most basic principal of investing is to “buy low, sell high”. Unfortunately, putting that into practice is at best difficult and at worst a dangerous gamble. However, by using a strategy known as “dollar-cost averaging”, you will automatically buy more shares of a stock, mutual fund, or ETF when the price is low and […]

So you’re enrolled in your company based retirement plan, if available, and you have established a Roth IRA. Great! There is only one brick left to lay in your financial foundation, and that is a non-retirement investment account.
“But I’ve already set up a checking account, a savings account, a 401(k), and a Roth […]