Retirement investing is a difficult topic for many of us, and not just because of complexity. Rather, our emotions tend to get the better of us. Like starting up a huge mountain, the work of creating a retirement nest egg seems impossible. So we tend to shut down and think about other things instead. Kids,… Continue reading →

Iconic performer Bruce Springsteen is out with a memoir of his life in music, unsurprisingly entitled Born to Run. It’s his first attempt to capturing his own story, although many others have written it before, some even writing him off. One biographer joked that he was “too old to rock” in 1989 — 27 years… Continue reading →

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Vanguard Group Founder Jack Bogle lowered the boom on critics of index investing and low investing fees. “Idiotic” is how he characterized one research analyst’s viewpoint. “Totally wrongheaded.” I can only imagine how that poor analyst must feel about now, having the dean of American investing call him out… Continue reading →

It always amazes me when people make the case for actively managed investment funds. If you understand the evidence against active trading — and in favor of index investing instead — it takes a heap of willful ignorance to keep believing. I understand why, though. Often, proponents of active management are investors of a certain… Continue reading →

Transparency is a fancy word you hear a lot when it comes to corporations and government, but it just means being clear with people. Say what you do, then do what you say. It couldn’t be simpler, but nothing is simple once money is involved. And the more money at stake, it seems, the less… Continue reading →

July was a bright spot for mutual fund managers who insist that stock picking is the way to make money. Sixty-seven percent of large-cap stock pickers beat their benchmarks while small-cap managers did their best so far this year, with 43% of them beating their index. Deal me in, right? Except that those July numbers were… Continue reading →

Funny how obvious things can be in the rear-view mirror. Jeff Bezos, founder of online retail giant Amazon, recently saw his wealth surpass that of investing legend Warren Buffett. Separately, Buffett’s own wager on the broad stock market index against a collection of hedge funds continues to embarrass the supposed “smart money” at those funds. There are some very… Continue reading →

What’s going to hurt investors the most over the coming years? You might come up with any number of investment trends to worry about — inflation, debt, politics or terrorism, to name just a few. John Bogle, the founder of investment giant Vanguard, sees another trend, one he calls “highly negative” for investors and worth… Continue reading →

Lawsuits are piling up on the desks of HR directors around the country, all with a common theme: The employee retirement plan was too costly and the company should have known better. Retirement investing is not an expensive process. There are only a few variables and the marketplace is fairly transparent. Unless, of course, you are… Continue reading →