The purpose of home insurance is to provide a safety net for when the cost of replacement or repair exceeds the financial capabilities of the policy holder. As such it can be disastrous when a claim to cover such cost is denied. While a denial is devastating, it isn’t the final word as long as you are persistent and well prepared for the appeals process. So here are a few things to keep in mind should you ever have a claim denied.
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Jan 162012
Corrected Version – Thanks to the help of a few of my readers I have corrected a mathematical error which overstated the benefits of the Traditional IRA. However, I still strongly favor the Traditional IRA over the Roth IRA as described below. Cheers! — You know the wonderful Roth IRA or the Roth 401K contributions everyone has been raving about? Well, it might not be so shiny …Read more…
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I have had several discussion with readers lately regarding the costs associated with active investing and the benefits of passive investing through index tracking products. I originally wrote the following post back in August 2011, but back then I was just starting out so not many people actually read it. Take a look and let me know what you think. —— Unpredictable markets, Eurozone …Read more…
Managing your investment portfolio can be quite stressful, especially during periods of high market volatility and economic crisis. The last several years have been particularly tough years for individual investors given the performance of global markets over the previous decade. Over this period, developed equities markets including the U.S., U.K. and Western European markets have produced negative returns after accounting for the impact of inflation.
Here are four ‘IDEA’s for minimizing risk while maximizing investment returns. [Read More...]
I don’t know about you, but I think polls and surveys are really fun and sometimes they can be even useful too (but usually for marketing research purposes). However, I have an issue with a recent Gallup Poll that asked American’s how much income they believed they need to be “rich”. According to the poll results, Americans set the “rich” threshold at a median of $150,000 in terms of annual income and $1,000,000 in terms of net worth.
To me, these numbers are way too low…. [Read More...]
If you are holding an investment portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and ETFs then you don’t need me to tell you that the markets have been quite bumpy lately. Furthermore, there are no clear signs that equity market volatility is going to let up in the foreseeable future. Naturally, this forces individual investors to question their tactics or even their entire approach to investment management (and the value of their financial advisor).
Here are questions I am asking myself: [Read More...]
Nov 272011
When I was growing up and even in my early 20’s I thought that becoming wealthy was a complicated and mysterious process. I also believed that being a high net worth individual meant that you needed to “look” wealthy by spending large sums of money on material items. Nothing could be further from the truth…
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What in the world is a REIT? A Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”) is an exchange-traded security that trades like an equity and invests directly in income producing real estate assets. U.S. REITs must comply with certain requirements in order to receive favorable tax treatment, including: Investing at least 75% of its assets in real estate Deriving at least 75% of gross income from rents …Read more…
It’s that time of year again; Time to make your annual enrollment choices for your health insurance and other benefits. The very first thing you will notice is the shocking increase in health insurance premiums. My own plan is increasing a jaw-dropping 15% this year! However, my company is going to offset a portion of the increase by making a contribution to my Health Care Spending Account. I consider …Read more…
Oct 072011
I am ending the week with a rant. [rant began] The market volatility is really completely out of control and I dislike it immensely. It’s bugging me that the market is so completely batty. It’s bugging me that the correlation between news sound bits and market prices is pretty much impossible to measure and understand. And finally, it’s bugging me that decision making appears to …Read more…
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