DIY Personal & Retirement Financial Planning
Do-It-Yourself financial and investment planning Excel spreadsheet software
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 […]
The scientific investment literature indicates that passive investment strategies usually are more time efficient, while they also increase returns and add more value to your investment portfolio. For example, given the diversification imperative, it is highly questionable whether the vast majority of individual investors should own any common stocks or bonds directly. Instead, they can […]
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. Find Family Financial Planning Software Diversification has become an axiom of personal investing, because the specific risks of […]
You are completely responsible for your financial and investment success or failure. Delegating investment decisions to industry advisers largely on naive faith and hope without adequate personal knowledge, attention, and control can be very risky to your personal and family welfare. The only practical solution is for you to increase your personal investment knowledge and […]
“Market efficiency” makes it very difficult for individual investors to “beat the market.” Making their own decisions, individual investors perform so poorly that on average their investment returns lag behind the returns that one would expect from random stock selection. The average professional trader does somewhat better than amateurs do, and professionals probably do so, […]
<<– Continued from Part 1 Financial Planning Software for Consumers In addition to showing that large numbers of additional stocks are required to achieve measurable improvements in diversification, the Evans and Archer study clarified other requirements for a well-diversified portfolio. The number of stocks selected for a highly diversified portfolio also depends on what one […]
Another kind of investment diversification that individual investors should consider important relates to the failure or corruption of the financial industry intermediaries and fiduciaries that hold individual investors’ securities. This meaning of diversification has nothing to do with scientific investment principles related to optimal portfolio diversification. However, it is still very important. Prudent investment practices […]
Pay lower investment expenses to get higher investment returns While financial services industry sales people tell you that you need to pay more to get more, the correct answer is the opposite. Excessive investment costs are a plague on your personal financial planning. Excessive investment expenses are one of the most significant barriers to lifelong […]
Spending your valuable time on the wrong financial activities is just plain bad for you A previous article, “The Solution – ONLY follow financial strategies that are scientific, passive, diversified, savings focused, risk controlled, low cost, and tax efficient,†suggested that individuals are much better off with a well-considered financial viewpoint. This follow-up article discusses […]
Own Investment Mutual Funds and ETFs – Not Individual Securities Owning individual stock and bond securities is just a big waste of your valuable time and money Individual investors tend to be terrible investment portfolio managers. Almost everyone can hire an index fund manager to do a much better job for far less time, money, […]
Financial research drives industry product development, but not necessarily toward the best interests of individuals Personal financial decisions seem to have become very complicated. To add to the confusion, the financial services industry develops an unending array of supposedly innovative new products. However, a large part of the complexity that individuals face results from the […]
Choose mutual funds and ETFs with a minimum economical portfolio size If you are going to invest in actively managed funds, then you should want them to have a sufficiently large asset base to fund the necessary research. If an active fund is too small, then fund management quality can suffer or fees could grow. […]