The idea of being a landlord doesn’t appeal to me. That’s not to say real estate can’t be a good investment. It can. Like every other type of investing, it takes time to learn which investments work – be it a multi-unit building, condos, commercial property, land, or stocks, bonds, funds, etc. – so you actually make a decent profit over time.

I bring this up because a recent Gallop poll came out showing real estate, of all things, is seen as the best long term investment…again. I guess it’s easier to get over a housing market crash than a stock market crash. Continue Reading…

People feel better about their finances. That’s what a recent Gallup poll says. Their bank accounts look fuller. Their retirement accounts look bigger. Their debt feels under control. Their monthly budget has money left over.

A funny thing happens when people feel better about their finances. They’re willing to spend more money then they were in the past. And they buy stuff they want, not need. The feel good nature around money makes it easier to scratch the constant itch to upgrade your lifestyle. Impulse purchases are now on the table. Continue Reading…

There’s one question that’s been asked since last year and still hasn’t been answered – when will the Fed raise rates? Nobody has the answer, not even the Fed. Still, we ask the question because when it does happen, it will affect most asset classes.

If you’re living under a rock, interest rates are at all time lows. That’s not a big secret but we’re stuck with this reality…for the moment.

From different angles this is either good or bad news. Continue Reading…

I ran across a hypothetical question – what happens when Vanguard owns everything? – which was followed up with a rebuttle and reply. For something that will never happen it was a decent read with a nugget of information buried at the bottom:

Financial Analysts Journal paper by Rodney Sullivan and Morningstar’s own James Xiong that raises a warning flag about spillover effects with market-cap indexing. In the words of the authors, the growth in market-cap indexing has led to “increased volatility” and “marketplace fragility.”

That brings up another question – whether indexing can get too big? Continue Reading…