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I recommend index funds for most people that ask. Anything more complicated than that and their eyes gloss over. A diversified portfolio of index funds is way better than what most of them currently have.
Newsletters? That requires money and effort. I can't get them to read articles about retirement planning or finance. Why? Too complicated, boring, or they don't get it. Newsletters are way over their heads.
I hear conversations about money, 401k's, and retirement all the time. Probably 90 % of those conversations are among people who don't have a clue. Some of these people are engineers, or highly educated people who should know something.
I hit my retirement number last year, 5 years ahead of schedule. I've done extremely well and look forward to retiring early at age 60 in 4 years. I owe it all to my college economics professor. He got me excited about making money by using your head. I try and do the same for others. Many, like posters here, want a quick answer. Others are truly interested. You tailor your advice to the involvement they are willing to give. My goal is to make them better than they were, not necessarily the best.
The sad part is most people just want an answer and could care less about the why. How to invest $xxxxx? Really? You're basing your investments on some random guy who has not one clue about your financial life? Do you know good advice from bad? I always tell people to read about money. Lot's of opinions but one will make sense for you. But you need to understand the why.
My last thought. The only person who truly cares about your money is you. Learning how to manage it is one of the most important things you will ever do.
I recommend index funds for most people that ask. Anything more complicated than that and their eyes gloss over. A diversified portfolio of index funds is way better than what most of them currently have.
Newsletters? That requires money and effort. I can't get them to read articles about retirement planning or finance. Why? Too complicated, boring, or they don't get it. Newsletters are way over their heads.
I hear conversations about money, 401k's, and retirement all the time. Probably 90 % of those conversations are among people who don't have a clue. Some of these people are engineers, or highly educated people who should know something.
I hit my retirement number last year, 5 years ahead of schedule. I've done extremely well and look forward to retiring early at age 60 in 4 years. I owe it all to my college economics professor. He got me excited about making money by using your head. I try and do the same for others. Many, like posters here, want a quick answer. Others are truly interested. You tailor your advice to the involvement they are willing to give. My goal is to make them better than they were, not necessarily the best.
The sad part is most people just want an answer and could care less about the why. How to invest $xxxxx? Really? You're basing your investments on some random guy who has not one clue about your financial life? Do you know good advice from bad? I always tell people to read about money. Lot's of opinions but one will make sense for you. But you need to understand the why.
My last thought. The only person who truly cares about your money is you. Learning how to manage it is one of the most important things you will ever do.
I recommend index funds for most people that ask. Anything more complicated than that and their eyes gloss over. A diversified portfolio of index funds is way better than what most of them currently have.
Newsletters? That requires money and effort. I can't get them to read articles about retirement planning or finance. Why? Too complicated, boring, or they don't get it. Newsletters are way over their heads.
I hear conversations about money, 401k's, and retirement all the time. Probably 90 % of those conversations are among people who don't have a clue. Some of these people are engineers, or highly educated people who should know something.
I hit my retirement number last year, 5 years ahead of schedule. I've done extremely well and look forward to retiring early at age 60 in 4 years. I owe it all to my college economics professor. He got me excited about making money by using your head. I try and do the same for others. Many, like posters here, want a quick answer. Others are truly interested. You tailor your advice to the involvement they are willing to give. My goal is to make them better than they were, not necessarily the best.
The sad part is most people just want an answer and could care less about the why. How to invest $xxxxx? Really? You're basing your investments on some random guy who has not one clue about your financial life? Do you know good advice from bad? I always tell people to read about money. Lot's of opinions but one will make sense for you. But you need to understand the why.
My last thought. The only person who truly cares about your money is you. Learning how to manage it is one of the most important things you will ever do.
your last sentance is the key and yet the biggest mystery as to why folks care and know so little about their money.
the financial knowledge and interest most americans take in anything financial is deplorable.
for something so important to their lives they know more about sports ,their car and refrigerator. the typical american has no idea what a mutual fund even is.
most throw money blindly in to 401k's or ira's without ever knowing what it is they are even buying.
actually fidelity monitor was always more aggressive and had slightly better returns although at higher risks.
since the merger they kind of met in the middle.
i think the issue today is while the allocations include less classes and segments the fact is we are in a different market with many asset classes either out of favor or over valued.
that really does not leave a whole lot at this stage.
as i posted ,i have been tracking the etf/index model that interests me just in case i don't like the future choices they make .
but so far the more conservative models i follow have blown away the more aggressive etf model as that took a nasty dip a few months ago and spent time retracing a whole lot more.
as of today the etf model is up 39k while the fidelity insight model i use is up 70k. they started life with equal amounts about 8 months ago. the etf is a 50/50 mix the insight model about 40/60
QUOTE]ERIC M. KOBREN, executive editor of Fidelity Insight, a newsletter that picks Fidelity funds, boasts about the loyalty of his 75,000 subscribers. Which, of course, is cause for a rival, Donald R. Dion Jr., publisher of the Fidelity Independent Adviser, to snipe, ''It used to be 125,000.''
Mr. Kobren, for his part, says Jack Bowers, editor of the competing Fidelity Monitor, pinched his original newsletter concept in 1986. Mr. Bowers denies it and says Mr. Kobren used a ''fabricated track record'' back in 1987. Mr. Kobren denies that.
One thing is clear: When it comes to feuding, the Hearsts and the Pulitzers can't teach a thing to these publishers.
There is an avalanche -- a paper one -- of mutual fund newsletters. More than a half-dozen focus on the funds offered by Fidelity Investments, including those that specialize in market timing and sector rotation.[/QUOTE
your last sentance is the key and yet the biggest mystery as to why folks care and know so little about their money.
the financial knowledge and interest most americans take in anything financial is deplorable.
for something so important to their lives they know more about sports ,their car and refrigerator. the typical american has no idea what a mutual fund even is.
most throw money blindly in to 401k's or ira's without ever knowing what it is they are even buying.
Yet YOU FOLLOW A NEWSLETTER. If you don't see why we suffer cognitive dissonance that you accuse others of not knowing what they're buying, but follow a newsletter...
So let me get this straight, base on your recent responses in multiple threads:
1) Indexes, and index funds, have stocks selected by humans, so they're not reliable. If the stocks aren't selected by humans, the rules selecting the stocks are selected by humans, so they're not reliable.
2) Don't see a fee only financial planner, because he might be selling something
3) Index fund investors aren't going to match the market.
....and you think they should buy a newsletter. And follow that. Right....
Yet YOU FOLLOW A NEWSLETTER. If you don't see why we suffer cognitive dissonance that you accuse others of not knowing what they're buying, but follow a newsletter...
So let me get this straight, base on your recent responses in multiple threads:
1) Indexes, and index funds, have stocks selected by humans, so they're not reliable. If the stocks aren't selected by humans, the rules selecting the stocks are selected by humans, so they're not reliable.
2) Don't see a fee only financial planner, because he might be selling something
3) Index fund investors aren't going to match the market.
....and you think they should buy a newsletter. And follow that. Right....
there are positives and negatives in all of the above.
yes the indexes are selected by humans as far as who stays and goes, they are not human free as someone stated -fact
fee only advisors are no guarantee you are getting correct advice or even the fact that they may not be selling products because they are not able to sell them because they are not versed and certified in a full sphere of products .
by the same token there are some excellent comissioned guys out there with low cost producxts you are not under any obligation to buy.
trying to make something a general statement about advisors like see fee only is poor advice and likely not true across the board .there are some excellent advisors in all catatagories of how they are paid.
and yes , the newsletters do work well but you need one that you feel comfortable with and has models that meet your goals.
'i am not sure what that entire post you put up is even supposed to reflect except pieces of different discussions without the discussions they were attached to. ceratinly no meaningful logic on your behalf....
There's nothing wrong with a newsletter, per say. It's another perspective. It helps one consider their own ideas, while learning others people's perspectives.
Warren Buffett reads, what 4 newspapers a day? What's the difference between a newsletter, and a newspaper? Not a whole lot. The ladder just contains less content, and more opinion pieces.
But yeah, finance is really a matter of opinion. What you do with your money is your business, so who cares?
There's nothing wrong with a newsletter, per say. It's another perspective. It helps one consider their own ideas, while learning others people's perspectives.
Warren Buffett reads, what 4 newspapers a day? What's the difference between a newsletter, and a newspaper? Not a whole lot. The ladder just contains less content, and more opinion pieces.
But yeah, finance is really a matter of opinion. What you do with your money is your business, so who cares?
It's not the use of a newsletter itself. That dose of discipline clearly does wonders for some people. It might be suboptimal, but it's a technique, and 'optimal' (best possible returns) is an unachievable goal for most investors.
It's the repeated dismissive attitude towards use of any other very simple technique-index funds, Boglehead portfolios, fee-only planners-because they're also suboptimal.
It is very difficult for me to wrap my head around dismissing a fee-only planner, because they might be selling something and might not give you the absolute best advice, to going to a one-size fits all document with a yearly fee (newsletter), which clearly does not take personal circumstances into account, AND insulting us for recommending a planner because we're 'clueless' for believing the planner is fulfilling their fiduciary duty:
do not limit yourselves to fee only. that is a myth repeated over and over you here from clueless people.
many fee only are only fee only because they lack the credentials to sell or even know about certain products. many receive finders fees for steering you towards certain products others sell..
they also have no vested interest in how you do as many never see that client again.they may leave you way to conservative or aggressive
You can do better than ALL these simple techniques. But newsletters are not a panacea from heaven, and indexing/fee-only planning is not inherently bad.
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