For those of you who have not been following recent news about the Federal Reserve Bank (the Fed), Janet Yellin, Chair of the Board of Governors, announced some time ago that the Fed is likely to raise interest rates at its upcoming September 16th meeting. Historically the Fed has always been vague about discussing the…
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Having just lived through a couple of the most volatile stock market weeks we’ve seen in a long time, it’s natural for your thoughts to shift to capital preservation. From the 1980s through the dot com bust you could have allocated a portion of your investment portfolio to money market funds knowing that it would…
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The 531 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday August 21st was certainly headline-grabbing in its magnitude. It represented a one-day 3.1% drop in the index and resulted in a 10% correction from its high in May. It’s completely natural during such times for your stomach to turn over as you worry…
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You’ve probably heard or read that you should periodically rebalance your investment portfolio.  That means selling assets from asset classes that currently exceed your target allocation and buying more in asset classes that lag, in order to maintain your target allocation over time.  The presumed benefit is higher returns, reduced portfolio risk, or both.  Unfortunately,…
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With interest rates at historical lows right now, the question facing bond investors is whether to buy individual bonds or bond mutual funds. Since bonds will drop in price when interest rates rise, common wisdom suggests that if you purchase an individual bond and hold it to maturity, you are guaranteed to get the full…
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According to Wikipedia, “Socially responsible investing (SRI), also known as sustainable, socially conscious, green, or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good.” The idea of promoting social good through investment selection has been around for a long time, but gained worldwide prominence as part of the…
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