You may hear, when markets get “volatile,” that there are more sellers than buyers. Can that even happen? What does that phrase even mean? BTW, you hear it too in any market, including the real estate market. The article below, “A Question of Equilibrium,” explains the basics of how buyers and sellers always agree […]
The time for reflection comes to all of us at one time or another. These are 9 key questions an investor should ask themselves. This is not an exhaustive list, rather one that gets to the meat of the matter. The questions and answers are timeless, applying all the time. What sort of competition do […]
It is human nature not to be very good at imagining our future selves. Scientists call this “temporal discounting” (temporal discounting on Wikipedia). Various experiments have shown that we either imagine our future selves to be healthier, richer, or more disciplined than we turn out to be, or we feel disconnected from our future selves, thinking […]
With stock indices continuing to set new highs, does this mean negative returns for stocks are on the horizon? If prices increasing over time was a troubling development, what would be the point of investing at all? You would think investors would realize there is no potential for future gain, and not invest. So why do […]
Fundamentally Wade’s work, in his newest book, is a great summary of a lot of research so far in this nascent field of withdrawing from assets to supplement retirement income. “How Much Can I Spend in Retirement?: A Guide to Investment-Based Retirement Income Strategies (The Retirement Researcher’s Guide Series)” by Wade D Pfau, available at […]
What are factors for investing? How are they determined? Why are they useful? Your Complete Guide to Factor-Based Investing: The Way Smart Money Invests Today Paperback – October 7, 2016 by Andrew L Berkin and Larry E Swedroe discusses this. What are factors? “A numerical characteristic or set of characteristics common across a broad […]
Your mind is powerful. It can aid you doing what you want. But, it can also hinder much of that. How do you train your mind and mental muscles? Many people may have tried to change a habit, either good or bad, with varying degrees of success. I write about the topic because saving and/or […]
I have had the great pleasure of talking with and listening to Meir Statman on a number of occasions. I also enjoy reading his insights on how we, the people, are more normal than we think, even when we think we’re doing something wrong, when it comes to our money and finances. I’ve had this […]
What is the most sensitive factor in the computation of retirement income? Time! It is the one input that is largely ignored. Time … or better said, aging … has succumbed through the common use of a fixed age such as 95 or 100. You may click on the graph to enlarge it (hold shift key […]
There is a cost to indexing that most investors are unaware of. It is called “reconstitution.” What is reconstitution and how may the costs involved be solved? What is an index? An index tracks changes in the markets – think of it kind of like a weather barometer. The first article below discusses how the reconstitution effect […]
