Search
Carole Meitler
- Mar 6, 2020
- 5 min
Investor Basics: Mutual Funds
Whether you are new to investing or already have holdings in mutual funds, you may not fully understand what exactly mutual funds are, how they work, or how to choose from the many options available. In this installment of “Investor Basics” on mutual funds, I hope we can answer some of your questions. What is a Mutual Fund? Imagine 100 people in a room each throwing a $10 bill into a basket. Now there is $1000 in the basket. The 100 individuals have mutually “pooled” their m
Steve Coker, CFP
- Feb 7, 2020
- 4 min
The High Cost of Variable Annuities
I love the idea of annuities. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if retirees could simply get ‘minimum returns’ or ‘guaranteed withdrawals’ from their money and take all of the risk out of investing? After all, investing can be scary and ‘participating in the upside in the market’ while ‘guaranteeing your return’ sounds like every investors dream. Unfortunately, the idea of annuities and actual annuities are very different things. Actual annuities often fall far short of the promis
Carole Meitler
- Jan 26, 2020
- 3 min
Investor Basics: Financial Goals and Resolutions
With the beginning of a new year, we hear and think a lot about goal setting. ‘Tis the season for it! Without being cliché, goal setting is both relevant and important for new and experienced investors alike. Benjamin Franklin wisely said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” When it comes to living our present and future dreams and goals with financial peace, we must not neglect the ever-important process of planning in the area of our personal finances. Where
Steve Coker, CFP
- May 21, 2018
- 2 min
How Much Cash Should I Hold?
While we believe that making your money work for you is important, it is also important to hold some cash in checking and savings for emergencies. The idea, of course, is to hold enough cash to take care of those emergencies without being forced to sell your investments or take on debt. But how much is enough? A good rule of thumb is 3 to 6 months-worth of spending needs, but the best answer is ‘it depends.’ Here are some questions to guide you to the right answer given your
Steve Coker, CFP
- Nov 30, 2017
- 2 min
What Is a Benchmark?
A benchmark is a reference point against which you can compare an investment or portfolio. A benchmark is most often used as a comparison point for investment returns and can be viewed as a way to measure whether or not your advisor is adding value. For example, a common benchmark for stock market investing is the S&P 500 Index, a composite of the 500 largest companies in the U.S. stock market. If your stock portfolio exceeded the returns of the S&P 500 Index, as a benchmark,
Steve Coker, CFP
- Oct 3, 2016
- 3 min
Don't Shop! Invest!
I’m shopping for a new car. I’m shopping for a new car because I need one, but that’s not a problem because I actually enjoy looking around, comparing all of the models, performance, mileage, ratings, and prices as I try to find just the right vehicle. It’s fun to shop. Shopping is ingrained in us as Americans. Yet, shopping is actually a terrible way to make investment decisions, and those same instincts used to find just the right car might actually land a terrible inve
Steve Coker, CFP
- Oct 26, 2015
- 4 min
Buying High and Selling Low: Why Trading Can Destroy Your Portfolio
Like so many things in life, investing looks so easy when looking backward. When we look at a historical chart we all wish that we had sold when the market reached its top and bought when the market reached its low. If only we had ‘timed’ the market correctly, our investments would have soared. And yet life and investing are not that easy. In fact, investors are notoriously terrible at market timing. By selling into market downturns many investors (and many advisors) enter a
Steve Coker, CFP
- Oct 5, 2015
- 2 min
Valuation Check - The Weighing Machine
Is the stock market in a bubble? Is it headed for a fall? Predicting the stock market over the short term is hard, some would say impossible, because the stock market is subject to the fear and greed of the day. Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing and Warren Buffet’s mentor, famously described the stock market like this: “in the short run, the market is like a voting machine—tallying up which firms are popular and unpopular. But in the long run, the market is like
Steve Coker, CFP
- Aug 24, 2015
- 2 min
The Upside of Crazy
We are all a little bit crazy; or at least a bit irrational. While logic would predict that humans would behave… well… logically, human nature is far less predictable. Take for example our eating habits. We as Americans are chronically overweight, but it is not for lack of information or knowledge on how to eat better. Despite all of the information in our head, we too often reach for the ice cream in the fridge instead of the broccoli. Why? Because in the moment, it is emoti
Steve Coker, CFP
- Mar 11, 2015
- 2 min
Do I Really Need an Advisor?
The truth about managing your money is that you can do it yourself. I have painted my own house, poured my own concrete, and fixed my own cars. Planning for your financial future is similar. Given enough time and effort, you can learn, plan, and invest for yourself. But as I survey my own ‘do it yourself’ jobs, I realize that I often don’t quite have the time or energy to do the job well; a professional could do it much better. I have begun to ask myself: “should I do this m
