Why You Should Consider MYGAs instead of CDs in a CD Ladder MYGAs are good annuities. Annuities have a bad rap. There are, however, good annuities that the advanced investor should consider. A MYGA (Multi-Year Guaranteed Annuity) may have a […]
Brokerage, Roth, Pre-tax, and the 3-Fund Portfolio Folks like the simplicity of a 3-fund portfolio. Both US and International equity funds and a bond fund are all baked together in a set asset allocation. However, when you have different […]
Direct Indexing or VTSAX? Direct indexing if you are the average DIY investor. The standard of care is VTSAX (or VTI), a 3-fund portfolio, or even 6-10 ETFs in your brokerage account with a smart tax-deferred pairing. When will […]
Selling Your Winners: Tax Strategies What are some strategies for selling your winning equities? If you have highly appreciated equities, what should you do with them, keeping tax strategies in mind? It is a pretty common problem, as people tend […]
Investment Risk and the Risk/Reward Trade-off As you construct your portfolio, where do you take investment risk? Should you take risk in your Equities or your Bonds? Risk means different things to different people, but without some risk, there […]
How Narcissists use Sandbagging Sandbagging is a way to self-discount such that the narcissist always appears grand. If we remember that grandiosity is central to a narcissist’s self-image, we can see how self-discounting and performing better than “expected” […]
Risk Tolerance affects Asset Allocation Risk Tolerance and Asset Allocation are tied at the hip, and depend on age and recency bias. How you understand risk—and how you balance the stock/bond proportion in your portfolio—is the most important decision an […]
Stocks and Time People say that stocks get less risky the longer you own them. Actually, stocks are riskier the longer you hold them. You know: don’t invest money you need soon. But for the money you need in […]
Never Sell Low (Investing from 20-40) Paul Merriman asked if I had a piece on the “First Steps” of investing for a 20-40-year-old. I usually say that asset allocation is the most important decision (after deciding to invest). Still, a […]
