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	Documents 1 - 10 of 21     1   2   3     2011 - A Turbulent Year In Review View Article One of the most interesting things about investing is the long-term disconnect between world events and the behavior of investment markets. Every day, we hear that the markets went up or down as a result of this or that dramatic event or piece of economic data in the news. But if Rip Van Investor had fallen asleep at the start of the 20th century, and woke up with a yawn 100 years later at midnight, December, 1999, he would have been startled to see that his investment in the S&P 500 had gained more than 10% a year, on average, during his 100-year nap.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend Who Needs Fixed Income Anyway? View Article For decades, the financial services industry has been pushing the idea that stocks are the way for savvy individual investors to make serious money. As the bull markets of the mid-1980s and late 1990s roared, it became an article of faith that only the timid would resort to buying bonds. Now, with the bear market of 2008-2009 still fresh in our memories, the financial services industry has swung fully to the other direction, pushing the supposed reliability of annuities as the new salvation product.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend The Next Tech Bubble? View Article Those of us who watched the LinkedIn initial public offering experienced a strange sense of deja vu. The social media company was offered to the public at $45 a share, and an unexpected buying frenzy took the price up 171% on the first day of trading, before the company settled back to just over $94 a share--more than 109% above the offering price.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend Inflation Fears Rise Again View Article Recently, we've been hearing a lot about inflation, and the government statistics released on April 15 didn't do a lot to quiet the chatter. The government reported that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers rose to an annualized 2.7% in March, up from 1.6% in February. Troll through the latest batch of YouTube videos, and you see pundits and other observers suggesting (sometimes screaming) that the Federal Reserve Board is printing money, leading the U.S. to become another Zimbabwe or Weimar Republic.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend Japan Is On Our Minds View Article The news from Japan should, first and foremost, be viewed as a human tragedy of horrific proportions, and we extend our sympathy to the people affected by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor crises in Fukushima. People from around the U.S. are pledging support for the humanitarian efforts. Perhaps the easiest way to get support quickly is to dial the Red Cross by typing in 90999 on your cell phone or 1-800-RED-CROSS on a regular phone line, or go to the web site at www.redcross.org. Reports say that the Japanese chapter of the Red Cross is one of the best organized in the world.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend Good News.... Maybe? View Article So many aspects of our economy still seem seriously hobbled, nearly two years after the official end of the Great Recession: Unemployment is still at 9.0 percent. Yet the landscape for investors looks surprisingly positive. Its terrible that so many people are still out of work, or are still facing foreclosure on their houses, but there is also plenty of good news about our economy, and that good news is having a more direct impact on our ability to meet our financial goals. Despite our troubles, there are very good reasons to be optimistic   click here to e-mail this article to a friend The Darkness Behind The Problems View Article Here at home, you read about our economic difficulties--the federal debt, various scams and ponzi schemes, entire nations going bankrupt--and it's sometimes hard to see past the bright headlines to the darker, better-hidden underlying causes of all these problems. But a recent report issued by economist Woody Brock of Strategic Economic Decisions, Inc. gives us a Hubble-like view of the deeper structural problems with our global society.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend Teaching Kids About Money View Article In uncertain economic times, it becomes ever more clear how important it is to help our children develop wise financial habits. Quite frankly, it's never too early to start teaching them how to deal with personal financial concepts. We know it's critically important that our kids develop healthy eating habits. Well in much the same vein, habits about handling money... good or bad... are learned early in life. Here are some practical tips you can start using today.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend 529 Plans: The Estate Planning Triple Play View Article Much has been made of the ability to use 529 plans to implement effective estate planning strategies. This article will specifically focus on the estate planning benefits of these college savings plans.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? View Article If you are the primary breadwinner in your family, your untimely death would be a financial as well as an emotional burden on your survivors. Therefore, you probably need life insurance as long as you have dependents. Determining your insurance needs, though, can be a challenge.   click here to e-mail this article to a friend