I’ve never been a fan of New Years resolutions. There are 364 other great days available to start improving on something, so why waste it? I understand why people get behind it with the fresh start feel of a new year, but it rarely works out.

Typical resolutions are big ideas devoid of specifics. You see a lot of things like eat healthier, lose weight, and save more money. All great goals, and I’ve covered this before, but its generic.

I came across an Inc. article on goal setting worth reading. The article does a great job explaining how to reach goals in general. But it covers something specific to investing with benchmarks. Continue Reading…

Starting is the hardest part. In hopefully what is a sign of things to come, The Upshot reported on a new retirement savings program offered in Illinois called Secure Choice.

The plan is meant to fill the void for people who don’t have a retirement plan through work. It’s a voluntary program with one defining characteristic. You need to opt out to stop saving.

Dealing with a retirement plan for the first time can be intimidating. That was my first experience as I watched coworkers stare at a packet of fund choices like it was a Chinese takeout menu. The plan administrators salesmen’s best advisor impression only confused things more. Only a few of us signed up. Continue Reading…

Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.

Lessons From Bezos

Business Insider did a great interview with Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon. You can read the entire transcript. If you scroll down to the bottom, you can watch the 52 minute video. It’s a nice video for anyone interested in Amazon.

The video also had a few nuggets of great advice that can used toward investing.

Continue Reading…

Welcome to the end of the week! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy this weeks roundup in another edition of Happy Hour.

Impact of Lower Oil

So far this year the S&P is up almost 10%. Not everything is rosy inside the S&P 500. The energy sector doesn’t want to play along. Oil stocks are the biggest losers this year. The past week, its dragged the S&P with it. Falling oil prices are the primary reason.

If you own oil companies or anything directly or indirectly associated with oil, those investments are getting crushed. And the list is growing. You can add high yield bonds, solar stocks, and a few countries in the global market. Continue Reading…