My Investing Blog My Investing Blog Money, specifically mine, and who, what, when, where, and how I invest it. Articles
How many ?Best Mutual Funds of 2007? can there really be?
2008-01-18 09:13:00 Photo by: goisraelgermanySo in stumbling my way across news articles tonight, I found myself very intrigued as to why there were so many “Best Mutual Funds of 2007″ available online (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). It’s pretty simple really; marketing. Who WOULDN’T tout that they were the best mutual fund based on this, ... More About: Retirement , Portfolio , Investing , Net worth
Should I hire an accountant or do my taxes on my own?
2008-01-17 09:13:00 Photo by: herzogbrMy old man used to tell me, “Hank, you want to find yourself a CPA that will walk you RIGHT UP TO the door of jail, but not let you go in.” I think that’s pretty good advice - take what you can, when you can (legally) because the Government is not ... More About: Hire , Taxes , Insurance , Investing , Debt
Keep your investments separate for different goals -
2008-01-16 16:30:00 Photo by: Daquella maneraHow many of you use your 401k for your everything bucket? I’ve overheard friends and family talk about their 401k like their “all for one long term savings account” saying things like, “I’m going to use my 401k for my kids education” or “my 401k is used for both me and my ... More About: Portfolio , Investing , Goals , Mutual Funds , Investments
Why is it so taboo to talk about salary and compensation?
2008-01-15 10:13:00 Photo by: takashy How is it that when we can readily see public sector and professional athletes salaries on the web and not bat an eye at it. I’m sure they discuss these things over caviar all the time and it isn’t that big of a deal; but why does middle class America think ... More About: Retirement , Portfolio , Investing , Talk , Debt
The ?Magic Quadrant? of the Personal Finance blogs?
2008-01-14 09:04:00 Photo by: CubbieNVegas I’ve been somewhat intrigued over the past few years I’ve been lurking in the Personal Finance Blog realm as to who were the top spots in the space. I’ve got my own preferences that you can certainly see if you’re a daily reader; but I wanted to give it an overall picture ... More About: Blogroll , Personal Finance , Magic
Weekly Roundup #11 (January 12, 2008)
2008-01-12 09:33:00 Welcome to 2008 - hope the new year treated you all well. I’m working on a project to revamp the site with Jon Phillips and should have at least a rough draft here in the next few weeks. I like this design, but he’s let me know there are a handful of things that need ... More About: House , Blogroll , Retirement , Taxes , Insurance
I got 3 raises on my job last year - How did I do it?
2008-01-11 14:00:00 Photo by: Daquella maneraTwo words: Don’t settle.It’s your life and your compensation. Put yourself in the situation where you ARE #1 to your boss. Get things done on time, proactively take on projects, support and praise your peers on projects well done, start a new method of doing a certain task, SET the bar at ... More About: Net worth , Compensation , Year
Why don?t people share their knowledge at work?
2008-01-10 19:50:00 Photo by: edwardyanquen I’m sure it has to do with the “old school” way of thinking that people would be more valuable to the team if THEY were the sole keepers of the information on a system. Before Al Gore invented the internet (cough, cough), knowledge wasn’t so readily available. PEOPLE were the knowledge. They didn’t ... More About: People , Retirement , Portfolio , Work , Share
Should I take out a reverse mortgage on my house? What IS a reverse mortga
2008-01-08 14:00:00 My brother mentioned setting my mother up with a reverse mortgage over the holiday break, so I thought I would do some research on what is was and if it was a good idea. I had heard of it before and I have a basic understanding of it, but I figured there had to be ... More About: House , Insurance , Real Estate , Investing , Mortgage
Is $100 a barrel for oil a bad thing? As weird as it sounds, I don?t think
2008-01-07 14:00:00 Photo by: GregHickman We’ve all watched the oil prices rising for years now and continue to pay at the pumps as the price goes up. We think we’ve got it bad here, but we neglect to think that Europe is ALREADY paying DOUBLE what we pay. But how high CAN it go ... More About: Weird , Sounds , Debt , Compensation , Thing
How did I decide on a 529 plan for my kids?
2008-01-06 14:00:00 Photo by: soldiersmediacenter Well, honestly, I didn’t. My mother picked them out for the girls under her name for a Christmas present in 2006. She lives in Montana and her investment rep told her that she would be best suited to buy through him as he’d “pick the best plans for her”, ... More About: Kids , Portfolio , Investing , Mutual Funds , Net worth
Weekly Roundup #11 (January 5, 2008)
2008-01-05 14:00:00 Photo by: tloe I came down with a cold this week, and the site hit its CPU utilization threshold about 4 or 5 times, so the site was in some trouble, but I’ve found a Wordpress guru named Jon Phillips who has been very helpful thus far; and we may even be looking to revamp the site, so stay tuned for details. So because of the above issues, I’ve been a little thin on the posting this week - I’ll ramp it back up next week hopefully with better health and Jon’s wonderful help! 1. Mrs. Micah interviewed Jacob from Early Retirement Extreme and got us “back to the basics” financially. Very good information to start the new year. 2. SenseToSave gave us a Better Budget Challenge for 2008 . Do you want to take the challenge? 3. I’ve like PaidTwices “Snowflake Revolution” for a while, I’ve read about it before and it is similar to Dave Ramsey’s snowballing; but revolutionized! 4. TheSimpleDollar gave us the best posts the... More About: Roundup , January , Weekly
Networth update January 1, 2008 (+2.02%)
2008-01-04 14:00:00 Looks like I’m starting off the new year relatively clean; up 2.02% from December 2007. The house is still flailing a bit and my bet that Dodge & Cox (DODFX) would payoff for my new 401k allocation - The wifes 401k, on the other hand, stayed in REREX and the ol’ target fund TRRDX ... More About: House , Blogroll , Retirement , Taxes , Insurance
Should I go to college or graduate school to make more money?
2008-01-03 19:29:00 A question as old as college I suppose. College s need to make money too! What better way to market it than to say you’re DEFINITELY make more money by attending it. Colleges have marketing departments also; they’re businesses just like Walmart and Macys. They’re in the game to make money. ... More About: Blogroll , Money , Graduate , School
Can I fund my spouses IRA if they don?t work?
2008-01-01 14:00:00 Photo by: dittaeva Dear Hank - My wife is a stay at home mom. With a traditional IRA she is eligible for the “spousal IRA.” Can she open a Roth IRA as her spousal IRA, meaning I can invest $8,000 of my income, with half of that in her name? - Peter from Mississippi Hey Peter ... More About: Retirement , Work , Investing , Fund
Weekly Roundup #10 (December 31, 2007)
2007-12-31 05:42:00 Photo by: spacepleb It’s finally the end of 2007, where did it go? How did your finances do this year?1. AllFinancialMatters let us know how to rebalance a portfolio come end of year. I don’t have those assets there, but the idea of rebalancing index at end of year makes perfect “cents”. 2. ... More About: House , Blogroll , Retirement , Taxes , Insurance
Weekly Roundup #10 (December 30, 2007)
2007-12-30 14:00:00 Photo by: spacepleb It’s finally the end of 2007, where did it go? How did your finances do this year?1. AllFinancialMatters let us know how to rebalance a portfolio come end of year. I don’t have those assets there, but the idea of rebalancing index at end of year makes perfect “cents”. 2. ... More About: House , Blogroll , Retirement , Taxes , Insurance
Icelandic 13% A.P.Y. CD through Everbank. Is it for real?
2007-12-29 14:00:00 Photo by: Stephen AU So what’s the deal with this ridiculously high 13.10% APY 3-Month Icelandic Krona Certificate of Deposit offered by Everbank? Is it FDIC insured? How can they give such a beefy return on a CD? First off, Everbank IS A BANK (A United States bank hence the FDIC insured part). They’re not ... More About: Retirement , Investing , Real
Can I fund a ROTH IRA account that belongs to one of my parents?
2007-12-28 14:00:00 Photo by: Seamus Murray Another reader request asked: My mother is 57, has no retirement $$$, and works full-time making about $25,000/year. I want to open a ROTH for her for Christmas, can I? - Shannon from Montana Hello Shannon - how nice of you to think of Mom for the holidays! Congrats to ... More About: Retirement , Investing , Parents , Fund , Account
Goodbye to my Universal Life Insurance from Hartford mutual
2007-12-27 14:00:00 Photo by: dave mcmtSo I’ve done it - after debating for about 2 months and trying to convince myself that I DIDN’T make a bad investment in getting in on this, I’ve come to my senses. I admit it, I made a bad mistake 5 years ago to purchase my Hartford Life Universal ... More About: Retirement , Insurance , Portfolio , Investing
What is a 12-b-1 fee and is it included in an expense ratio of a mutual fun
2007-12-26 14:00:00 Photo by: Ricky Irvine Hank - quick one for you. Are 12-b-1 fees included in an expense ratio of a mutual fund? - Jay from Kansas Hey Jay - quick answer back to you. No. Click the image below to enlarge: You’ll notice it is a SEPARATE fee. But also keep in my ... More About: Investing , Mutual Funds , Mutual , Mutu
Hanks Holiday Handout winners! and a few year end financial tips?
2007-12-25 15:36:00 Happy Holiday s to everyone! Hanks Holiday Handout went off without a hitch and we had a total of 72 entries! So thank you all for contributing to it and I’m happy to set up another one when the opportunity arises! The winners each received an email stating they’d won in their inbox; so check your email, ... More About: Retirement , Taxes , Portfolio , Tips
How do I calculate a percentage of increase in my salary or investment?
2007-12-24 14:00:00 Photo by: hasmil Hank, I just got a raise at work from $35,000AUD to $42,000AUD - what is that percentage of increase, more so, how do I calculate it? - Gerald from Perth Hey Gerald - good question, people wonder that more than you think. So the way to calculate a percent increase between two ... More About: Investment , Salary , Compensation , Calculate
How do I plan to reach my investing goals for retirement?
2007-12-23 14:00:00 Photo by: emdot Only 0 days 5 hours 2 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! To make my goal of having my net worth be $1,000,000USD by 2020 I need to have a plan laid out. Yes it will change through the years, My wife and I will get raises; we won’t get the ... More About: House , Retirement , Taxes , Insurance , Interviews
Weekly Roundup #9 (December 22, 2007)
2007-12-22 14:00:00 Photo by: 2757 Only 1 days 3 hours 2 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! I’m headed to the remote lands of Montana for Christmas this year, where the snow is white, abundant, and desolating, so I may not be able to find my way back, but if I do, you’ll know I gave each ... More About: House , Blogroll , Retirement , Insurance , Portfolio
GOOD decisions I?ve made on my investing journey
2007-12-21 14:00:00 Photo by: nerovivo Only 2 days 3 hours 19 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! I’ve had 2 posts worth of BAD investing decisions so far (1, 2). I didn’t want people to think I’ve not made any GOOD decisions, because I have, just not as many yet. I’m still young, had no financial ... More About: House , Retirement , Taxes , Portfolio , Real Estate
Sick of the ?Joneses?? Take the test to see if you ARE a ?Joneses? family
2007-12-20 16:00:00 Only 3 days 3 hours 58 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! Photo by: jurvetsonSo I’ve written and re-written this post about 15 different times, but figure the best way is to just start at the start - What am I talking about? What is ANYONE talking about when they say “keeping ... More About: Family , Test , Compensation , Sick , Frugal
Am I off my rocker or are food prices going up faster than anything else?
2007-12-19 16:00:00 Only 4 days 4 hours 11 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! Photo by: WhatRhymeswithNicole I was brought up cutting coupons out of every paper we had. I was even encouraged to get coupons from my friends family newspapers (to some discomfort and embarrassment) if they weren’t going to use them. I have ... More About: Food , Rocker , Frugal , Prices , Goin
What is the difference between a taxable and a non-taxable investment accou
2007-12-18 17:21:00 Only 5 days 2 hours 14 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! Good Morning Hank, I was reading this article from Morningstar and they said in it: “Mutual funds are required by law to pass along any income and capital gains they’ve earned throughout the year. These distributions typically take place near year end, and ... More About: Taxes , Investment , Investing , Difference , Diff
What is a target date mutual fund and should I use it?
More articles from this author:2007-12-17 16:00:00 Only 5 days 5 hours 02 minutes left until Hanks Holiday Handout drawing! Hank - I have a few “target date” mutual funds in my 401k plan from Fidelity. They are: Fidelity Freedom 2010 FFFCX Fidelity Freedom 2015 FFVFX Fidelity Freedom 2020 FFFDX Fidelity Freedom 2025 FFTWX Fidelity Freedom 2030 FFFEX Fidelity Freedom 2035 FFTHX Fidelity Freedom 2040 FFFFX What exactly ... More About: Retirement , Investing , Mutual fund , Mutual Funds , Net worth 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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