Investing
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A valuable comparison of commissions, fees and services.
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Snapshot of a Stock: The Balance Sheet
Successful investing has no secret formula. Since financial statements are basic tools of fundamental analysis, it is important to be able to read and analyze them.
In Brief
- Model ETF Portfolio: Beats Benchmark, But Total Recovery Not Yet Complete
- After the Storm, Stability Returns to the Model Mutual Fund Portfolio
- Rebound: Model Shadow Stock Portfolio Strongly Up, But Still Playing Catch-Up
- Model Shadow Stock Portfolio Up 66%, as Market Move Mystifies Pundits
- Keeping Fund Portfolio Unchanged Despite Tough Start to 2010
Investing Know-How
Developing an Intuitive Feel for the Mechanics of Growth
Investment decisions and planning are all concerned in one way or another with one concept: Growth. Stock investors examine the earnings growth of firms; portfolio planners estimate portfolio growth. And ultimately growth in the real value of your assets is the central focus of your endeavors and concerns.
But most investors do not have an intuitive feel for growth, particularly over longer time periods. If someone were to say, for instance, that you can double your money in nine years or quadruple it in 18, most people would have no idea whatsoever of the annual growth rates that would produce those results [it would be 8% in both instances].
Needless to say, if you are completely in the dark when confronted with this issue, you have little basis for judgment.
Archives »
The Stock Market and the Media: Turn It on, But Tune It Out
Investors are faced with a daily barrage of business news. There's keen competition over who can break the story first. The clear inference is that the news matters-that keeping abreast of the news, especially as it relates to one's holdings, is one of the keys to investment success.
I disagree. I believe one of the worst things that can happen to a long-term investor is to be instantly and totally informed about his stock. In most cases, spot news fades into irrelevance over time.
Investing Articles
- Why Technical Analysis Matters
- Top Charting Web Sites
- State-Based Exchange-Traded Funds
- Donor-Advised Charitable Mutual Funds
- Nine Timeless Rules for Investing in Mutual Funds (and ETFs)
- Inverse and Leveraged ETFs
- Web Sites for Exchange-Traded Funds
- I Savings Bonds
- Risky Business: How to Pick Winning Property & Casualty Insurer Stocks
- Munis vs. Taxables: How to Determine the Taxable Equivalent Yield
- Taking Aim at Your Retirement: A Look at Target Date Mutual Funds
- Laddered Bond Portfolios
