When are stocks a good fit?

Contrary to what you might (reasonably) conclude from most of the content on this site, we’re not anti-stock market. Rather our broader goal is to make the twin points: The world of investment options is far broader than is often portrayed in the popular press If you don’t want to invest in stocks, it’s still […]

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Do I have to get out of stocks?

People often consider trimming or eliminating the stock portion of their portfolio under one of the following three situations: Situation One: The most common stock-selling activity which most people engage in comes as the result of periodic rebalancing. During periods when stocks are gaining at a faster rate than the other portfolio components, it is […]

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Who Wins the Stock Game?

Believe it or not, a prime determinant of whether or not you should be investing in the stock market, may be the amount of time you are planning to have the money invested. Or a better way to say that may be: when do you need your money back? On one end of the spectrum […]

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Dividend Reinvestment Plans

Dividend Reinvestment plans (often referred to as “DRIPs”) are arrangements that one makes with a participating company to receive more shares (perhaps fractional shares) in lieu of a cash payment for dividends. These plans have been around for a long time (decades…) and date back to a time when buying stock was a lot more […]

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Consistency of returns

One of the benefits of solid planning is that it gives a retire peace of mind. To the extent that you can develop reasonable expectations about what should happen, and then watch them come about from one year to the next, it goes a long way toward providing assurance that things are as they should […]

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Averages Aren’t Your Friend

A person goes to City A, where the daytime temperature is 55 degrees and the night time temperature is 45 degrees. Another person goes to City B where the daytime high is 100 degrees and it drops to zero each night. The average daily temperature of both cities is 50 degrees. If this is the […]

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The Real 1%: How Traders Impact Markets

In a democracy, the majority rules, right? Not when it comes to stock pricing. On any given day, the price of a stock is set by those who actually show up to the market to buy or sell shares. The data that comes in the Wall Street Journal, the numbers that crawl across the bottom […]

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