DIY Personal & Retirement Financial Planning
Do-It-Yourself financial and investment planning Excel spreadsheet software
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 Diversification has become an axiom of personal investing, because the specific risks of businesses […]
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 Discover Family Financial Planning Software 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 […]
A well-diversified portfolio contains a very large number of individual stocks and/or bonds that are selected without bias toward particular economic segments. A fully diversified portfolio will approximate the global publicly traded securities markets. The question about diversification most frequently asked by individual investors is “how many stocks or bonds do I need to be […]
Actively-managed mutual funds are not created equally. Performance can vary significantly – even when funds pursue similar strategies or “styles.” This article addresses the impact on portfolio diversification of holding more than one actively-managed mutual fund. (For the companion article to this, see: How many mutual funds are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? – a […]
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 […]
Efficient market pricing is the theory that all known information is already reflected in current securities prices. Efficient securities market pricing has become very widely accepted within the investment community. The preponderance of evidence is that securities markets are efficient and tend to reflect available information. Whether you believe markets are efficient is very important […]
10 Lower Cost S&P 500 Index Mutual Funds Regular readers know that The Skilled Investor advocates a very boring, low cost, broad market, passive index investment strategy. Costs less. Gets the broad market return — whatever that will be. Narrows the range of outcomes and therefore the risk to your long-term personal financial plan. Takes […]
The Birth of Yet Another Darn “Asset Class” – “Infrastructure” Recently, The Skilled Investor published two articles: The first article discussed how the financial industry keeps manufacturing new asset classes for brokers and investment advisors to sell to individual investors. The Skilled Investor raised the question of whether these new asset classes are likely to […]
Hear ye, Hear Ye, individual investors: Be wary of new investment asset classes – A Tip from The Skilled Investor Many promoters in the financial services industry have shown a strong proclivity in recent years to invent and to market supposedly “new” investment asset classes. Industry advocates will claim that these new asset classes deserve […]
Use Caution with Classical Investment Books – A Tip from The Skilled Investor Individual investors should exercise caution when applying the tactics of classical investment books to current markets. The more handcrafted, seat-of-the-pants, and individual actor approach to the securities markets in the pre-computer, pre-networking era has given way to different practices. What might have […]
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 […]
If personal finance is difficult for you, carefully hire a good financial and investment adviser A previous financial article, “The Solution – ONLY follow financial strategies that are scientific, passive, diversified, savings focused, risk controlled, low cost, and tax efficient,†suggested that investors are much better off with a well-considered financial plan. A stable set […]