Passive Investing Has Taken the Lead and Appears Unstoppable
As we learned in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, life-changing events can happen in two ways: gradually, then suddenly. That is certainly the case for passive versus active investing. Vanguard launched its first version of an S&P 500 index fund in May of 1976, and it took nearly 40 years for index funds to claim a 30% share of the funds marketplace. Last month, passive investing finally claimed a majority of the fund assets under management in America. In the storm of cultural, economic, and geopolitical news, you may have missed the story, but for the investment industry, it’s a very big deal. It’s an even bigger deal for the American family.
Four Questions Your Mutual Fund Salesperson Does Not Want You to Ask
Whatever your wealth journey has been, whether you’ve enjoyed strong year-over-year compounding or found yourself wondering if your nest egg will ever grow to a comfortable number, your mutual fund salesperson has done just fine, thank you. In this blog, we’ll provide four crucial questions you can ask your rep, but we’ll go one better: we’ll give you the answers you would really want to hear.
Four Ways To Make Transparency Work For You
Organizational research has shown that a culture of transparency in the workplace is worth the investment. Data shows transparency fosters greater job satisfaction, employee retention, and trust, while a lack of transparency can lead to a breakdown in collaboration and disharmony. These same dynamics are in play in the relationship between financial advisors and their clients; trust in your strategy and in the motives of your advisors is downstream from transparency.
Free Advice
The guidance of professionals isn’t free—and it should not be. Achieving lifetime income security is no mean feat, given that 62% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. The guidance of seasoned financial planners and tax experts is vital and worth the fees. But there is one quality of advice that should be free, and it may be the most important single success factor for an investor seeking to navigate the noisy and confusing world of financial solutions.
New Year’s Resolutions Based On Predictions Doomed To Fail
This is the third in our end-of-year series on New Year’s resolutions. We encourage you to make and stick with a solid financial plan, but we caution you not to base your investing decisions on things that cannot be predicted or controlled.
When Making New Year’s Resolutions, Be Specific
The majority of New Year’s resolutions, particularly those regarding fitness and finance, often fail rapidly, a trend reflecting our overestimation of a new year’s transformative power.
Grading Your New Year’s Financial Resolutions
Researchers have found that fewer than 10% of Americans who make a New Year’s resolution successfully complete them. About a quarter give up in the first week. This can be a problem if the resolution is about something hugely consequential, like your security in retirement. The problem may not be your resolve; it may be that you’re focused on behaviors that won’t really change things.
Mutual Funds and Lack of Transparency Makes a Bad Deal Worse
Cheaper, more tax efficient, less risky, more flexible, and more transparent investing vehicles should do for the mutual fund what the light bulb did for the oil lamp.
At Almost 100, the Mutual Fund Has Lived Long Enough
Cheaper, more tax efficient, less risky, more flexible, and more transparent investing vehicles should do for the mutual fund what the light bulb did for the oil lamp.
Investors Should Learn Their ABGs
Some investors may be familiar with the asset management terms alpha and beta, but few have ever heard of gamma. Yet gamma may be the most important driver of value in the relationship between investor and advisor. Gamma should be the measure by which investors select, hire, and evaluate their advisors.
