Ben Carlson

How to Get Started with Asset Allocation

“Once you set your asset allocation, stick to it no matter how greedy or scared you become.” – John Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group Your asset allocation is one of the most important decisions you can make when figuring out how to invest your retirement funds. Studies on the subject vary, but many show…

Stock Investing Tips to Combat Fear

“Don’t try to buy bottoms and sell tops, it cannot be done except by liars.” – Bernard Baruch Stock investing is not easy, but don’t try to make it more complicated than it has to be. With stocks at 5-year highs, I thought it would make sense to visit a question I have gotten a…

Common Sense Links for the Week

Each week I round up the best financial news from around the web. Enjoy. The 5 biggest lies on Wall Street (MarketWatch) Are bonds now riskier than stocks? (Money) The third stage of economic grief (MSN Money) Why it’s hard to stay with value stocks (Wall Street Journal) Investors fear another crash with Dow at…

How to Use Compound Interest to Your Advantage

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it…he who doesn’t…pays it.” – Albert Einstein “Someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffett A great way to figure out how to plan ahead with your finances when you…

How Much Do I Need to Retire?

“The art is not in making money, but in keeping it.” – Proverb How much do I need to retire? Should I increase the riskiness of my portfolio to make sure that I have enough money to retire? How much should I be saving as a percentage of my income to have a big enough…

Common Sense Links For The Week

Any NFL players need a financial advisor? (Yahoo!) Are we still in a secular bear market? (Big Picture) How to invest in a low growth world (GMO) The real losers in this economy (Yahoo! Finance) How to protect your stock gains (WSJ) It’s always good to be honest about your mistakes in the investing world…

The Benefits of Using Index Funds

“A very low-cost index is going to beat a majority of the amateur-managed money or professionally-managed money.” – Warren Buffet At this point most people know the advantages that come with investing in index funds.  They are tax efficient because of their low turnover.   This lowers the transaction costs in the funds making them less…

Less is More: Keep Investing Simple

We all try to overthink things in life.  We try to make the easy more complex because we think that if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.  When it comes to your investing do not overthink it.  Simple is almost always better in the long run.  If you try to make your process…

Common Sense Links for the Week

So God made a banker (Marketwatch) Does Dow 14,000 mean anything? (New York Times) Acronym for the this year is T.I.N.A (Reformed Broker) A deep dive on Apple (Institutional Investor & Part II) The trouble with Wall Street (New Republic) Investors are ignoring real risks to the market (Yahoo Finance) Is the secular bear market…

Personal Finance Management

“The investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself.” – Benjamin Graham When I got out of college and started my first job in the investment world I had a great foundation of education in finance, business, accounting, and economics.  My first job was at a consulting firm…