Insights
To Do List for Emergencies and End of Life
The most popular course I ever taught was called Finishing Well. I taught people how to get everything together so that their executor, or perhaps themselves as executor of a parent's estate, would not find themselves in "executor hell." The tasks also work well just...
Pres. Trump’s Hold on the Fiduciary Rule
Well, there is a whirlwind in the oval office these days, and one of the recent actions was to put the new DOL fiduciary rule on hold as part of a review ordered on the reasonableness of provisions in the enormous Dodd-Frank bill passed in 2009. The fiduciary rule was...
Investing Strategy in Light of Trump’s Election
It's been two weeks since the election and it is pretty clear what the stock and markets think will happen under President-elect Trump - faster economic growth from spending on infrastructure and significant cuts in the corporate income tax rate, as well as making it...
Jack Bogle, Vanguard Founder Agrees – Lower Stock Market Returns Ahead
For a while now, I've been using lower forecasts for stock and bond market returns over the next 10 years than the long-term historical averages. I think financial planners, advisors and brokers do their clients a disservice by using the Ibbottson average returns...
High Fees on Target Date Funds
Target date funds are wildly popular in 401(k) plans and are found in almost 80% of plans today. The little-known secret? They can be among the most expensive funds among the investment options. According to Morningstar, quoted in today's Wall St. Journal article on...
High Fees in 401(k)s – Avoiding a Lawsuit
I recently covered what I thought was the biggest problem in 401(k)s today - advisors who don't specialize in qualified retirement plans. This is the first of several parts addressing other problems in 401(k) plans. High fees are a risk to both employer and employees...
The Biggest Problem with 401(k) Plans Today
What's the #1 problem with 401(k) plans today? I can think of several strong contenders for that title, mainly in the small plan market, which I define as under $25 million in assets. The biggest issues include high fees, lack of good participant education, poor...
The Coming Crisis in 401(k) Fund Choices
Think about the choices in your 401(k). You probably have a long list of stock funds, maybe two general purpose bond funds and a list of target date funds that combine stocks and bonds. Essentially, all you can invest in is a combination of stocks and bonds. That's...
Putting Brexit Vote in Perspective – Part 2
Let me follow up to Saturday’s note about putting the Brexit in perspective. Much of the following comes from the “Up & Down Wall Street” column in the June 27, 2016 issue of Barron’s. Positives for Britain Economic Strength - Britain is the 2nd largest economy...
Some Clarity on Effects of the Brexit Vote Yesterday
There are news stories galore on the effects of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union after Brits voted to leave the European Union, the so-called Brexit. However, there is almost nothing of substance in these articles and quick videos, just people wanting to...
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