December 2013

Last Minute Gift Ideas

“It’s the gift that keeps on giving Clark.” – Cousin Eddie Here are some of my easy, last-minute holiday gift ideas. Netflix Streaming Subscription This is perhaps one of the greatest deals around right now. It’s only $7.99/month for this service. You can give someone the gift of binge watching great TV shows like Friday…

How to Create a Bond Ladder Using ETFs

“Most investors are primarily oriented toward return, how much they can make and pay little attention to risk, how much they can lose.” – Seth Klarman Reader mailbag: Is there a way to create a laddered bond portfolio using bond funds instead of individual bonds? I can understand why bond investors would be looking at…

3 Reasons to Save More Money

“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.” – Dr. Suess Saving is by far the most important first step in any investment plan. Without a solid savings portfolio your investment decisions don’t really have much of an impact. Here are 3 additional benefits to saving more money. 1. Replace Less Current Income…

Is Your Investment Strategy Mediocre?

“Successful investing can almost be easy: Avoid harmful “accidents” and do what will achieve your own most important long-term objectives. The very human irony is that learning this lesson can take so many years that by the time we “get it,” it may be too late to use the lesson because the powers of compounding…

The Best Books I Read in 2013

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people over a broad subject matter area who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.” – Charlie Munger These are the best books I’ve read in 2013. INVESTING Backstage Wall Street by Josh Brown Brown spent a number of years working as a commissioned broker…

Professional Athletes and Their Money

“I spent 90 percent of my money on women, drink and fast cars. The rest I wasted.” — Manchester United and Irish soccer legend George Best Some staggering stats from Sports Illustrated on the topic of professional athletes and their money: By the time they have been retired for two years, 78% of former NFL…

More Stock Bubble Talk

“It’s one of my first principles that we never know where we’re going – given the unreliability of macro forecasting – but we ought to know where we are.” – Howard Marks Reader mailbag: I read your article about stock levels (New Round Numbers! What Does it All Mean?) and I’m curious how you could…