http://www.bnet.com/5799-19890-0.html?type=18 Blog Recent Discussion Activity http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_92231 As a graduate of the four letter university you cite - I can say that it has bought me instant credability with potential clients. and in a competitive business environment, that is sometimes the edge you need.<br>Nancy Halpern<br><a href="http://www.knhassociates.com/" target="_blank">http://www.knhassociates.com/</a> Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:07:20 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_92231 2009-11-24T01:07:20Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_92083 Or are you paying for the name? Do your own research with your kids, and ask tough questions-like the curriculum, graduation requirements, and campus environment for academic freedom (i.e. speech codes, ideological bent of faculty and speakers, etc.)<br><br>And what graduates are you impressed with? It's a huge expense, so do the homework. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:07:58 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_92083 2009-11-23T16:07:58Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_91861 Investors be careful, we will make new lows according to my charts.<br><br>Technical analysis can also assist us as to the direction of the economy.<br><br>My indicators can identify trend changes before they occur.<br><br>They warned me of an impending market crash back in early *2007*<br><br>My long term USD indicator has been giving BULLISH warnings for some time and I am expecting a USD rally.<br><br>The VIX continues to give bullish warnings as well.<br><br>Is the bear market rally ending ?<br><br>I post my analysis at this forum:<br><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/market-outlook-0" target="_blank">http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/market-outlook-0</a> Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:56:06 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_91861 2009-11-21T09:56:06Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91852 Agreed. I know some real morons who went to Brand Name schools and, despite their utter stupidity, met some smart people who carried them along.<br><br>This is not a joke. I think it's worth the extra money to go to a fancy school. Granted, not everyone who graduates does anything special, but society infers this irrational value on the name alone. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:12:31 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91852 2009-11-21T06:12:31Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_91760 Financial literacy is currently a mirage because since 1950 despite 100's of peer reviewed journal articles and a <br>collection unverified,unscientific anecdotes no general theory <br>of wealth accumulation has emerged and certainly no <br>important questions have been raised.<br><br>Why is there such a disparity between the net real returns of <br>8-9% produced by our Mutual Fund Winners Spreadsheet <br>(MFWS) since 1994 compared to the average investor?s net <br>real returns of 1-2% after fees, expenses, taxes and inflation?<br><br>Rather than bemoan this sad state of affairs and since it is <br>unrealistic to expect expenses, taxes and inflation to be <br>drastically reduced any time soon, the approach was to find <br>out what controllable factor(s) are responsible for this <br>corrosive drag on performance.<br><br>Since fees are controllable, we can restrict our search to no-<br>load,no-fee funds (12b-1). These funds incur modest inside <br>management fees giving the fund investor an initial, but <br>limited, boost in returns. <br><br>After 15 years of research using over 200 million data cells <br>and some luck, we found the major culprit. It was "adverse <br>selection", which is the systematic selection of more losers <br>than winners usually on a 75:25 ratio basis. By reversing <br>these odds, mathematically, many times more winners than <br>losers are now easily and consistently picked.<br><br>A winner is defined as a fund whose performance consistently <br>outperforms the Standard & Poor?s 500 Stock Index over <br>time. A loser is defined as a fund whose performance <br>consistently under performs the Standard & Poor?s 500 Stock <br>Index over time.<br><br>If we deny the power of science that created real time chaos <br>how can science be expected to create an orderly process to <br>pick a few winners out of more than 13,000 open-end, <br>managed funds. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:27:40 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_91760 2009-11-20T18:27:40Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91708 I think that if you look at college as strictly a money deal, you will lose out every time. In the "real" world, you often don't turn to what you learned in college and go "ah, I can apply this and that and everything from class x", unless you went to a more technical or hands on college/field (i.e. my wife and I both went to the same liberal arts school, my degree in computer science and then my MBA didn't teach me so much in concrete terms, but they taught me more about learning and adapting on the job/situations where as her degree in teaching involved a lot of time in the types of classes they would actually be teaching. The same thing can be said for something like a law degree vs a medical degree). My loans, even after scholarships and grants, are almost as much as my house and there are certainly days when I think it wasn't worth what it cost, but, even though I could do what I do now w/o a college degree (90% of all jobs end up being what you learn on the job), I wouldn't have been looked at for the positions without them. I have a friend that went to Princeton and is a writer, but I can't say if her writing is 250k better than it was before she went, nor do I think anyone could, but I do know that she likely wouldn't have gotten the jobs at the publications she has worked at w/o her Ivy degree. A school like Yale, or any school really, aside from the education, offers 1) your foot in the door and 2) networking connections. I have found that who you know is generally more important than what you know and knowing the CEO that is a fellow grad gets you a lot further than knowing just about anyone else (unless it is the CEO's sectary, they have more power than most VP's). So, at the risk of rambling even more, I think that if you can stomach 250k to send her to school and it is what she wants, then I say it is a win, win. It's all relative. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:06:40 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91708 2009-11-20T15:06:40Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91615 I agree whole-heartedly! We have a freshman daughter at Yale and her twin sister at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service--NO financial aid from either. We're rich enough not to qualify but not rich enough to truly be rich. Regardless, we believe that these tuitions may be our best investments yet. And yes, they deserve to be at these schools. By the way, the GU daughter turned down a full-tuition merit scholarship to USC--ouch! Still, I say choose the right school and if that happens to be the elite school, so be it. And yes, the "parental vanity" is great fun. My husband and I refer to it as "basking." Good luck to your daughter in her admissions. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:16:21 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-its-worth-it-to-send-my-kid-to-yale/614/#18907_91615 2009-11-20T02:16:21Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/are-baby-boomers-unlucky-moneywise/406/#15815_90259 It is not the boomers who caused this situation. This was a set up by the Fed, the government, and all their banker buddies.Brokaw's book the greatest generation was never answered. If your talking about the generation who sat back and has been retired for 25 or more years now your close.<br>No one from this generation did anything to stop what was to come. Before 1968, when it was still possible to organize and make your views known and start grass root movements, without having to protest a mile from the site of the opposition, or to be thrown in jail for holding up a cardboard sign saying vote for the other guy, this republic<br>still had a chance. Kennedy tried to warn you of secret societies, of bankers taking your country away from you. Just listen to his old speeches.Most of the boomers and X and Y's will probably say this guy sounds like he nuts. Far from it. He had already ordered the printing of money backed by silver and it was going to be issued in time for the new year of 1964,as he was doing away with a foreign corporation owned by private banking families, who charge the country interest just to print funny money.From Lincoln to Kennedy, every President who tried to change out the Fed got his number punched.That my friends was the day the music died and this country changed in so many ways it is a high moral treasonous sin.Those who were in their 20 and 30's in 1930 and 40 should have put a stop to the Fed and demanded proof of the 2/3's majority of signatories to the 16th amendment.They still cannot locate the states ballots and approvals.If this makes sense to 1% of you I will be delighted. Like in the movie the Thing. " It ain't the boomers". Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:24:07 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/are-baby-boomers-unlucky-moneywise/406/#15815_90259 2009-11-12T01:24:07Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89513 Ali: <br>You make an important distinction. Basic financial literacy is indeed easier to teach than investing skills and retirement planning. And it's important. <br>When it is not matched with regulation that prevents predatory behavior by financial service providers, though, financial literacy training will not save people from expensive money mistakes. Financial literacy is a mirage when it's touted as the solution to all that went wrong in the crisis. There also has to be regulatory reform--or at least regulatory enforcement. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:26:58 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89513 2009-11-07T02:26:58Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89512 Liza: You have a good point. I didn't mean that people should not try to learn the basics of managing money. And of course I'm in favor of people taking responsibility for their financial welfare.<br> I just don't think that teaching financial literacy is a substitute for insisting on responsible behavior by financial services providers. And while it's possible for very disciplined workers to retire just fine with a 401(k) alone, I don't think it's very practical to try to teach everyone to be very disciplined. Better to modify the 401(k) so that moderately disciplined people can succeed, too. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:19:03 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89512 2009-11-07T02:19:03Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_89482 Growth stocks are good, especially when they involve some <br>companies from BRIC countries as well, whose economy will <br>support the growth.<br><br>There are several Brazilian and Chinese growth stocks worth <br>taking a look for longer term investment.<br><br>time111<br>admin: <a href="http://invetrics.com" target="_blank">http://invetrics.com</a> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:07:19 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_89482 2009-11-06T22:07:19Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89187 Financial Literacy invovles more than information about investments and retirement funds. What is being touted today involves basic financial knowledge such as checking and savings accounts, interest rates, how to manage/improve your credit score and how to budget your money. These fundemantals of personal finance are rarely taught in school, so if you come from a background that didn't prepare you to manage your finances you tend to make very expensive mistakes. Confusing financial literacy with investing education is dangerous and just plain wrong. Ali Mahood, Financial Educator Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:44:06 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89187 2009-11-05T21:44:06Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89089 If consumers did understand fixed vs variable rates, and other basic principals of financial literacy, including the simple advantage of a checking account vs paying a check cashing institute, many, mnay people would be in a better place. I can't help but hear a "sneering" attitude in this blog which concerns me. I think we can do better. Liza McFadden www.volunteerusafoundation.org Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:08:57 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/why-financial-literacy-is-a-mirage/595/#18401_89089 2009-11-05T13:08:57Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88704 There won't be any one easy solution. The problem with a simple fixed annuity payout at retirement (even though it lasts your lifetime) is that the purchasing power of that annuity can shrivel to nothing if the government lets inflation increase.<br><br>I think the problem is that Americans, over the past 40 years, have come to think that retirement is their God-given right. Not only that, but someone else should guarantee it and take the risk!<br><br>Investors should use a combination of stocks, bonds, annuities, alternative investments (and potentially a job) to help cover income later in life. Our company provides a free resource to match investors to advisors- <a href="http://www.claroconnect.com" target="_blank">http://www.claroconnect.com</a> - so that you can work with an advisor to put together an actual retirement plan that takes all of this into account. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:27:19 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88704 2009-11-03T21:27:19Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_88503 amin-esmat Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:25:09 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/the-one-free-lunch-left-for-investors/587/#18305_88503 2009-11-02T16:25:09Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88363 LeroyDecker:<br>I'm a bit skeptical that whole life is the solution to so many of our retirement problems. I'm dubious for many of the same reasons explained in my colleague Allan Roth's posts about EIUL. Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:49:23 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88363 2009-11-01T17:49:23Z http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88362 Wukong:<br>To answer your questions about the Erisa Industry Committe plan:<br>1) Yes, the contributions you make to the guaranteed plan would be tax favored. The plans could either follow the 401(k) model of full pre-tax saving, or the Roth model of tax-free build up of interest.<br>2) In the guaranteed plan, you would have to annuitize. <br>3) There would be a maximum contribution, but the rules would be simpler than now about who can contribute how much.<br>4) There are two protections envisioned in the Committee's plan for bankrupt administrators. First, the plan would be designed to be covered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp, the government office that currently insures traditional pensions against bankruptcy by employers; Second, the assets in the plan would be held in trust separate from the assets of the Administrator, so if the Administrator goes under, your assets wouldn't be affected except to the extent that the return guarantee couldn't be met. (That's where PBGC would step in.) You wouldn't be wiped out any more than you would be if your bank went under with the protection of the FDIC. <br>Remember that this plan was originated by the Erisa Industry Committe, so you can learn more about it at <a href="http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/ccea00000007.filename.ERIC_New_Benefit_Platform_FL0614.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.eric.org/forms/uploadFiles/ccea00000007.filename.ERIC_New_Benefit_Platform_FL0614.pdf</a> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:44:35 GMT http://moneywatch.bnet.com/retirement-planning/blog/financial-independence/retire-the-401k-replace-it-with-this/558/#17777_88362 2009-11-01T17:44:35Z