A Market to Be Thankful For Could 2013 end up being the best year for stocks since 1995? In financial terms, 2013 has been a very nice year – a year in which the economy, the housing and business sectors and the stock market have all improved. Looking back over the year to date, it is particularly amazing to see how stocks have soared in the face of many challenges – some of which proved tougher than others. Wall Street [...]
Dividend Reinvestment & Compound Interest Their combined power must be recognized & appreciated. Why reroute dividends back into your investments? Isn’t taking the income the preferred outcome when a dividend is produced? Retirees and pre-retirees are eager for dividend income in this era of historically low interest rates. Even so, the choice to buy more shares has merit for the long run. Reinvestment & compounding may have profoundly positive effects. As a hypothetical example, let’s say you own 100 shares [...]
RMD Precautions & Options A reminder about mandatory withdrawals from IRAs & other retirement plans. Just what is an RMD? After you turn 70½, the IRS requires you to withdraw some of the money in most retirement savings accounts each year. These withdrawals are officially called Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs).1 You must take an RMD from a traditional IRAs after you turn 70½, even if you are still working. If you dont, a severe financial penalty awaits you may [...]
When Technology Interrupts Trading Glitches, “flash crashes” & other disturbances are becoming too numerous. “Why is this happening?” Those words were undoubtedly spoken on Wall Street Thursday. Perhaps you uttered them, too. At 12:14pm EST, a glitch halted all trading on the NASDAQ for more than three hours. During that time, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in all NASDAQ securities and scratched orders; NASDAQ decided not to cancel any open [...]
How Impatience Hurts Retirement Saving Keep calm & carry on – it may be good for your portfolio. Why do so many retirement savers underperform the market? From 1993-2012, the S&P 500 achieved a (compound) annual return of 8.2%. Across the same period, the average investor in U.S. stock funds got only a 4.3% return. What accounts for the difference?1,2 One big factor is impatience. It is expressed in emotional investment decisions. Too many people trade themselves into mediocrity – [...]