Retirement Watch Weekly
Are Central Banks Losing Effectiveness?
Most analysts focus on which actions central banks will take next. Will they change interest rates or stand pat? It is an interesting question, but there’s a more important long-term question. Investors should be asking if central bankers are losing their omnipotence. Are the central banks, as the saying goes, “pushing on a string?” Until […]
The Benefits of Stock Market Diversification
We counsel diversification and balance at Retirement Watch. It’s hard to forecast markets consistently, and it’s risky to make a bet and be wrong. Here’s a profile of a mutual fund that practices real diversification, not the pseudo-diversification of most “balanced” mutual funds. Read to learn how balance works over the long run and why […]
Markets Recovering from the Winter Gloom
Do you remember the markets of last January and February? How many of you thought at the time that at the end of July almost all markets would have very solid positive returns for the year? That’s what the markets delivered. The S&P 500 as of the end of July had returned 3.65% for the […]
Nine Important Things to Know about Contributing to IRAs
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) offer a great way for an investor to prepare for the future. However, IRAs also can be potentially confusing, while requiring attention from investors who often may prefer to spend minimal time and effort. The following tips are intended to help you and other investors manage an IRA account successfully. What […]
Evidence-Based Investing: Technical and Fundamental
For most people, there are two types of investing: fundamental and technical. There are subsets within the two categories, but those are the two main categories. This article is an entertaining review of the development of the two categories and argues that they have become like religions with different hard-core followers. It argues for following […]
Troubles at Harvard’s Endowment
The Harvard Endowment has had troubles for a while now. After a long period of success, especially in the 1990s, students and alumni began to regularly complain that the staff of the endowment should be paid dramatically less. That’s led to a lot of turnover and changing strategies at the endowment. The endowment’s also had […]
Why Active Mutual Fund Managers Fail
It’s not because of poor stock picking skills or high costs, the main arguments made by those favoring index investing. In this interview, a leading researcher on the topic says the conventional wisdom about active versus index investing is wrong. He explains why and the factors investors should look for when evaluating mutual funds. There […]
Older Folks Keep Working
It’s no secret that on average people are retiring later than they used to. But what’s the cause? Was it the financial crisis? No, the trend was in place well before that? This article explores several possibilities and concludes that, for most, good health and jobs that aren’t physically demanding keep them in the work […]
