DIY Personal & Retirement Financial Planning
Do-It-Yourself financial and investment planning Excel spreadsheet software
Rational selection of equity and bond mutual funds and ETFs – An Overview Given the extremely large variety and number of available fixed income and equity investment mutual funds and ETFs, investors need a rational basis to select among them. Without scientific selection criteria and a good understanding of which factors are more or less […]
Why Day Trading Is a Terrible Idea Investing success is built upon the idea of buying an asset at a discounted price, and then holding it for a long period of time as the value of the asset steadily rises due to the expected risk premium inherent in holding your capital in a risky asset. […]
Industry rules-of-thumb often state that 15 to 30 stocks are enough for a well-diversified portfolio. This can be very misleading. Recent studies point out that industry rules-of-thumb on the number of stocks needed for a well-diversified portfolio are simply not adequate. These rules-of-thumb most often state that 15 to 30 stocks are enough. “The Truth […]
The Solution – ONLY follow financial strategies that are scientific, passive, diversified, savings focused, risk controlled, low cost, and tax efficient A previous article, “The Problem – Straight answers about personal financial and investment planning are difficult to find,” summarized important reasons why individuals may experience difficulties, even if they are intent upon doing better […]
Most individual investors are poor investment portfolio managers Investors more easily understand investment costs that are directly measurable, such as fees deducted on investment statements. However, many investors ignore or are unaware of the “opportunity costs†of their sub-optimal investment behaviors. Opportunity costs are usually much more difficult to measure directly, but these investment costs […]
Your personal investment management contribution is the total value that you add to your investment portfolio less the opportunity cost of your time. When divided by the hours you spend, you can estimate an hourly wage for your personal investment management contribution. Obviously, the objective is to have a high investment wage. Unfortunately, for most […]
Your time is valuable, and it should be included in calculations about your investment returns. Whether you add or subtract value from your assets when you spend time on investment activities should also be evaluated. Some investors spend significant time on the wrong strategies. Instead of adding value, their efforts reduce their investment portfolio performance […]
There are three primary types of third party or commission-based compensation: commission-only, fee-based commission, and fee-offset commission. How an advisor is compensated can be a very important issue. With commission-only advisors, there is no direct cost to the client for planning and advice. The advice appears to be free, but it is not. Most clients […]
There are three primary types of client paid advisor compensation: hourly-fee, fixed-fee, and asset-fee. When choosing an advisor, individuals should first decide the type of advisor compensation that makes them most comfortable. How an advisor is compensated can be a very important issue. When you hire a financial planner or investment advisor, 1) you pay […]
Yes, it can matter significantly how a financial advisor is paid. The heart of the compensation issue is an advisor’s potential “conflict of interest” with respect to payments from third parties. Does third party compensation change the quality of the recommendations that the advisers make? If an advisor works on sales commissions or accepts other […]
Before estimating the investment value that you might add or take away from your portfolio, you first need to determine whether your strategies are or are not likely to lead to optimal risk-adjusted investment returns. This value estimation is separate from any hourly opportunity cost related to spending time on your investments versus an alternative […]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SKILLED INVESTOR’s OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT THESE “10 FINANCIAL PLANNING STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION Financial Planning Software for Consumers Time in life is the most precious and perishable asset that a person has. It should be spent enjoyably and efficiently. Scientific investment strategies that rely on relatively efficient financial markets […]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SKILLED INVESTOR’s OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT THESE “10 FINANCIAL PLANNING STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION Even with optimal investment strategies, there is still substantial room to improve upon net investment performance through continued and vigilant focus on controlling investment costs and tax realization. Family Financial Planning Software The fees extracted by […]
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SKILLED INVESTOR’s OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT THESE “10 FINANCIAL PLANNING STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.” Diversification is genuinely an investment “free lunch,†and it is a key contributor to improved investment risk management. Family Financial Planning Software for Consumers Diversification has become an axiom of personal investing, because the specific risks […]
Here is some really good news for you. The Skilled Investor has published an article about lower cost S&P 500 index mutual funds that you can read, entitled: Low Cost S&P 500 Index Mutual Funds. The Standard & Poors 500 stock index is the most common equity index fund benchmark in the U.S. The S […]
What is the most effective strategy you have to increase your long-term mutual fund and ETF investment returns? Just reduce your investment fees to rock bottom and buy directly to eliminate all sales loads. This strategy is both simple and entirely within your control. You do not have to be smarter than all those other […]
Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise, objective, and realistic summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within […]
Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]
Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]
Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]