It’s Super Bowl time again.
Some people buy investments here and there, now and then. Others open an Individual Retirement Account, put some money in it, and then forget about it. But this type of haphazard investment behavior can lead to haphazard results.
Just when you thought you could take a break from financial drama, following the resolution of the debt ceiling issue, here comes Act 2: the downgrade of the U.S. long-term credit rating. As a citizen, you may be feeling frustrated. And as an investor, you might be getting worried.
Of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,” the only one still in existence is the Great Pyramid of Giza. This tells you something about the strength of the pyramid structure, but it also suggests that the pyramid may be a good metaphor for other endeavors that you wish to endure – such as your investment strategy.
For most of your working years, your invest-ment strategies, by and large, will probably revolve around achieving sufficient growth to help you meet your long-term goals, such as college for your kids and a comfortable retirement.
If you've been investing for a while, you know that there are few guarantees in the investment world and that, in one way or another, you're going to be taking some risks with your money. Still, you'd like to know that the system is fair to everyone and is governed by rules.
Will you ever receive a sizable inheritance? You can't plan on it. But if you do receive one, you can plan on it helping you achieve key financial goals.
If you're an investor, you've probably been less than ecstatic lately when you open the newspaper and see what's happening in the stock market.
By the time you retire, you'll probably have accum-ulated money in retirement-savings vehicles at a variety of locations -- an IRA here, a 401(k) there and so on. At first glance, that may sound all right, but there are some sound reasons why you might want to consolidate your retirement accounts to one provider.
As 2008 drew to a close, you may have found yourself reviewing your investment strategy to determine if you made the right moves to help you achieve your financial goals. And one topic you may well focus on is tax-advantaged investing.
It's hard for many of us to make sense of the failure of major Wall Street firms and large banks and the $700 billion bailout of the financial sector. And it's hard for investors to be calm when stocks have fallen more than 40 percent between October 2007 and Inauguration Day in 2009. What can you do to cope? Consider the following "checklist" for surviving a financial crisis:
As an investor, you can get plenty of advice from financial experts on the evening news or cable financial shows. But you may actually be able to learn some deeper truths about investing by observing other professionals -- such as winemakers.
It's graduation time at colleges across the country. If you have children graduating from college, you're probably excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for them.