Equities are among the most growth-oriented investment assets from which you can choose.   Almost all well-diversified portfolios include some degree of investment in stocks of one kind or another.  What is less well-known is that there’s another asset class that has experienced explosive growth since 2009: publicly traded real estate investment trusts, or equity REITS. …
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This blog is all about math.  No, wait, don’t leave.  It’s really about making sure you understand how to properly calculate the returns you get from your investments.  Because if you’re not getting the return you expect, you might be putting your future goals at risk. Most everybody is probably familiar with the concept of…
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A well-diversified investment portfolio should include some investment in bonds issued by foreign governments or companies.  But it can be difficult (and expensive) to buy foreign bonds yourself.  And there’s an additional risk associated with bonds denominated in foreign currencies that you don’t face when investing in U.S. bonds, namely currency risk.  If the currency of…
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In 2013 the U.S. stock market had its best return in over 15 years.  When you reviewed your portfolio in January of 2014, did you add to your investment in U.S. stocks because they did so well the previous year?  If so, then you were guilty of what is called in the jargon of behavioral…
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It’s well understood that investment risk and returns go together.  Simply put, investors expect a premium, generally in the form of a higher return, for investing in higher-risk securities, where risk is quantified as return variability or volatility. This explains why over time stocks outperform bonds and why the returns on small company stocks are…
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