A Tentative Personal Finance Blog

Once you’ve developed an investment strategy and selected the appropriate holdings for each of your goals, it’s important to leave your overall plan in place. However, changes in the financial markets and your time horizon may shift your investment mix from what you originally established. So review your plan periodically and rebalance and reallocate […]

You may not have a lot of cash to invest and you probably can’t afford a professional to decide where those dollars should go. With access to a 401(k) for the first time, new hires entering the workforce may be at a loss when it comes to investing. What to do? Fewer […]

It is a good idea to be mindful of news and information surrounding your investments. However, try not to abandon a well conceived, disciplined investment strategy to chase performance, the initial underlying reasons for buying a holding may still be valid.
Some people may be tempted to alter their investing plans in response to short […]

Most store purchases today involve using some form of plastic payment, and that means big bucks for the likes of Citigroup, MasterCard, American Express, and other issuers of credit, debit, and charge cards. More and more vendors, including big names McDonald’s, Home Depot, CVS, and Walgreen are now even permitting quick, no-signature credit card transactions.
I […]

Many people focus on the risk of market volatility, the possibility of losing money through market fluctuations. However, they may not give enough attention to inflation risk, the possibility that their investments will not grow sufficiently to stay ahead of rising prices.
Peoples’ exposure to each type of risk should depend upon their time horizon, […]

Before this year, my wife and I didn’t have health insurance. We were hedging our bets that we’d be healthy and wouldn’t have a major health catastrophe. For the most part, those three or four years, were extremely lucky and nothing major happened. The only complications were a hairline fracture in my […]

The first step to creating a sound investment plan is to establish clear, specific, and realistic goals. People sometimes over look this process. Having clearly defined objectives, however, can be a guide to developing and implementing a successful investment strategy. And a plan based on long term principles should increase the chances of […]

Many of us are likely to encounter challenges to successful investing. And although individuals respond differently, behavioral economists have identified some common predispositions, ranging from loss aversion to overconfidence, that may influence investors’ financial decisions. Gaining a better understanding of these tendencies can enable investors to base their choices on logic rather than […]

While almost everyone will have unforeseen expenses from time to time, their effects can be mitigated with some upfront planning. By establishing an emergency fund, you can become more financially prepared to deal with the unexpected and won’t have to compromise other goals, such as saving for your retirement.
Typically, an emergency fund should cover […]

When you do a Google search for the term “personal finance blog“, it returns 183,000 results! That’s astounding. The internet is a wealth of information and everyone has their say and opinion. It’s been a day over a month since I started this blog with the hopes of informing, educating, and just […]