A single friend recently asked for some advice on life insurance. It seems that his insurance agent for his home and car was trying to talk him into getting a life insurance policy. Having no financial expertise he wanted my take. Obviously as a single male with no beneficiaries to worry about this was a…

When we got engaged my wife and I had a discussion about how we would run our finances once we were married. This was obviously a topic that was breached by me since I am the personal finance nerd of the relationship. But she was all for it. We covered our spending habits, budgeting, saving,…

“Human decision-making is complex. On our own, our tendency to yield to short-term temptations, and even to addictions, may be too strong for our rational, long-term planning.” – Peter Singer “Truly successful decision-making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking.” – Malcolm Gladwell We all like to think that we are good at…

“By choosing to place asset allocation at the center of the investment process, investors ground the decision-making framework on the stable foundation of long-term policy actions. Focus on asset allocation relegates market timing and security selection decisions to the background, reducing the degree to which investment results depend on mercurial, unreliable factors. Selecting the asset…

“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…

“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…

“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…

“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…