Novel Investor • Page 9 of 13 • Compounding investing wisdom...

Happy Hour: Twitter IPO And Yellen

October 11, 2013

·

Jon

Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

Twitter IPO

Twitter announced its IPO plans recently. I have no idea if it’s a good investment and probably won’t waste much time trying to find out. Probably, because we’re about a month away from the IPO day. A mistake in an early draft of the S-1 would put the IPO on Nov. 15.

Between now and then, the news media will bombard us with IPO headlines. The New York Times kicked it off with this rather good article about how Twitter came about. Continue Reading…
Does A Target Maturity Bond ETF Fit Your Portfolio?

October 10, 2013

·

Jon

The writing has been on the wall for a while about rising interest rates. This year, we saw exactly what this move does to bond funds, as rates rise, the price of bonds fall and the value of bond funds fall with it. One way around this is to own individual bonds (I’ve highlighted others like floating rate bond funds). A target maturity bond ETF might be another option.

One of the benefits of owning an individual bond is the fact it has a maturity date. It’s an end date. The bond matures and you get your money back. That doesn’t exist with a bond fund. Of course, when you own individual bonds you lose the diversification a bond fund offers. But what if you could combine the two? Well, a target maturity bond ETF brings a maturity date to a diversified bond fund.

What Is It

A target maturity bond ETF holds a basket of bonds that mature in the same year. Once the bonds in the fund mature, the fund is closed, and you are paid out. Continue Reading…
Best Investment Tools You Can Use Free

October 8, 2013

·

Jon

It’s not hard to find decent investment tools online these days. The internet has made it cheaper and easier to get financial information.

Not too long ago, you had to subscribe to the major financial news services like the Wall Street Journal and Standard & Poor’s (which were costly) or hope your local library had a subscription.

Trust me, spending hours or days digging through the S&P annual volumes was not fun. Now, you’re a mouse click away with the tools online. The free investing tools below make it easier to get the information that matters so you can spend the rest of your free time doing what you want.

Below are some free investment tools I use to simplify things or check the full list of financial tools I use.

Investment Tools

Yahoo Finance

There are a number of great sites out there but none of them can unseat this old school favorite for quotes, charts, information, and news. Why? Because Yahoo has always been a great news aggregator. On top of that, it offers watch lists, screeners, calculators, and has built a stable of original video programs that cover the gamut of financial topics. Continue Reading…
Happy Hour: Shutdown And Your Money

October 4, 2013

·

Jon

Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

Shutdown

There’s nothing like a self-inflicted shutdown to stir things up. On Oct. 1, the government was shutdown for the first time since 1996. In the process, all nonessential government workers were sent home without pay until this is resolved. Though, maybe the essential workers should be sent home. When you can’t stop a shutdown, how essential are you.

This is all due to a spending bill that Congress can’t agree upon. Oh, and something about that Obamacare thing too. Seems a few people in Congress still don’t like Obamacare. Mostly, it’s the Republicans. So their holding the spending bill hostage and will try to use the debt ceiling which needs to be dealt with in two weeks, to further their cause. Continue Reading…
Roth IRA Rules: The Ultimate Guide

October 3, 2013

·

Jon

Whether you know it or not, retirement is the biggest savings goal of your life. In order to succeed you need a plan that takes advantage of the tools available. Tools like a Roth IRA help thanks to its tax advantages. But is it a good fit for your retirement plan? This guide covers everything you need to know about the Roth IRA rules and more. If you want to be fully informed, I suggest you look over the traditional IRA rules too.

Why A Roth IRA?

The Roth IRA is a relatively new retirement account introduced back in 1997. The plan was to offer something different from the traditional IRA. To that end, it was a success.

The biggest difference is the Roth uses after tax income. The Roth IRA takes after tax dollars and allows for tax-free growth of that money. That means, the money you put in the IRA is already taxed, so it won’t be taxed when you take it out. In return, you lose the tax deduction you would get with a traditional IRA. Continue Reading…
Happy Hour: Home Trade And Stamp Arbitrage

September 27, 2013

·

Jon

Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.

Home Trade

Several years ago Warren “The Oracle” Buffett gave a prophesy on the potential in housing. He basically uttered the immense opportunity and if it was practical he would buy a couple hundred thousand homes. Wall Street firms and hedge funds took that to heart and bought big. Of course, others had bought up houses already, picking up foreclosed homes for pennies on the dollar and renting them out. Continue Reading…

Happy Hour: Twitter IPO And Yellen

Twitter IPO

Does A Target Maturity Bond ETF Fit Your Portfolio?

What Is It

Best Investment Tools You Can Use Free

Investment Tools

Yahoo Finance

Happy Hour: Shutdown And Your Money

Shutdown

Roth IRA Rules: The Ultimate Guide

Why A Roth IRA?

Happy Hour: Home Trade And Stamp Arbitrage

Home Trade