“The goal of the advisor shouldn’t be to beat the market by picking stocks or winning funds. Advisors add value by providing the discipline required for successful investing. They add value in areas like tax efficiency, risk management, estate planning and retirement planning.” – John Bogle Investors on Wall Street are obsessed with beating the…

“Having a plan is important because it’s impossible to make rational decisions about investments without one.” – Larry Swedroe An investment policy statement (IPS) is something every investor needs to be able to achieve their long-term financial goals.  Without one you are basically a rudderless ship drifting across a vast ocean.  You’ll be lost. An…

“To make reliable decisions you must always weigh how right you think you are against how sorry you will be if you turn out to be mistaken.” – Jason Zweig One of the most difficult financial planning questions to answer is: How much do I need to retire? According to BlackRock’s Annual Retirement Survey, 50% of…

“Whether you take a risk depends not just on the probability that you are right but also on the consequences if you are wrong.” – Peter Bernstein Common sense reader mailbag: You write a lot about investing in index funds. Are these truly the best investment option or are there alternatives that I should be…

When we have success in our lives we tend to attribute that success to skill or hard work. When something goes wrong and we fail, we attribute it to bad luck. Sound familiar? I know I do this all the time. It’s easier than admitting that there was some luck involved in our wins and…

“I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?” – Yogi Berra I have spent a lot of time talking up the advantages…

“Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies.” – Warren Buffett Index funds and ETFs make the most sense as an investment vehicle for investors for a number of reasons. They have lower expense ratios than active mutual funds. They are more tax efficient. They trade less so they have lower transaction costs.

Source: Dilbert Do you pick the best active mutual funds? The ones that outperform year after year? If you do, you are probably in the minority. That’s not to say that you have a flawed selection process. On the contrary, you could have a wonderful system in place to choose the best funds. It’s just…

While most investors have the ability and common sense to create their own investment plan, many of us simply have better things to do with our time than paying significant attention to our investment portfolio.  It does take time and effort.  Plus, really smart people know their limitations. As I’ve touched on before, the biggest risk we…

“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…