Why Living Trusts Can Protect Your Family
The trend has already begun, but I suspect that in the coming decades you will see traditional wills diminish as part of an estate planning tool and be replaced with a living trust. Although the...
View ArticleDoes Socially Responsible Investing Work?
I admire people who don’t set ethics aside when they invest. That said, the conversation about what you would give up in the pursuit of socially responsible gains must be fully acknowledged. There has...
View ArticleThe Constraints on Closed-End Fund Managers
In the past, I have been critical on the topic of why you shouldn’t buy closed end funds because they tend to employ significant leverage in an effort to use debt to buy additional assets that can...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Private Equity and Mutual Funds
When you buy shares in a mutual fund, you are both protected and limited by the Investment Company Act of 1940. This Congressional Act was aimed to root out the causes of the Stock Market Crash of...
View ArticleThe Gift Tax Exclusion In An Irrevocable Trust
In 2017, the annual gift tax exclusion remains at $14,000. This means that each year, you can give $14,000 in cash, stocks and bonds, or an interest in physical property without triggering any gift...
View ArticleKKR Stock Isn’t An Investment From The Private Equity Glory Days
I’m not positive that the KKR team ever left behind their private equity mindset when they decided to raise capital and become a publicly traded limited partnership in 2010. My basis for that opinion...
View ArticleTravelzoo (TZOO) Is A Surprisingly Strong Business
I was reading the finances of something called Travelzoo (TZOO) because I usually look to the start-up internet businesses as examples of a stock market gone crazy. But as I studied to study the actual...
View Article5 Underrated Life Insurance Policy Tips
Life insurance companies earn 10% premiums on the policies they sell you. Given their immense sophistication, and the fact that they make the most profit when they don’t have to provide a death benefit...
View ArticleLeveraging Your Roth IRA For Retirement Investing Wealth
It is astounding to me to see how many finance articles online speak of Roth 401ks and IRAs as though they are a type of asset that you buy. Instead, it would be more accurate to say that it is a type...
View ArticleThe AT&T Dividend Shouldn’t Be Chased
Most of the long-term wealth in the stock market gets made by searching for one of two things. Either the accumulation of assets selling at a discount, or the purchase of securities trading at fair...
View ArticleMonthly Dividend Stocks Are Gimmicky
Between 2007 and 2009, approximately 34% of American stocks that pay dividends quarterly cut their payout at some point during the recession. The part I find worthy of examination? The fact that 56% of...
View ArticleOil Stocks: The Next One Hundred Years
I want to address one of the more insightful questions that I have received about oil stock investing. It generally goes like this: Does the non-renewable nature of petro-carbons pose a significant...
View ArticleThe Subtext of Financial Advice and Investment Media Coverage
Some of my friends do the tsk-tsk lament when politicians are not sufficiently wonkish with their policy proposals. I recommend against the pearl-clutching routine because I point out to them that...
View ArticleAmazon Stock’s Exceptional Price History Meets Value Investing
The stock price history of Amazon stock is truly an amazing sight to behold. Shares of AMZN, which traded at $42 as recently as 2008, have compounded at an eye-popping 43% annualized over the past nine...
View ArticleLessons From The CVS Launch of Adrenaclick
Epipens, the epinephrine injections that provide relief to those with severe allergies that include the possibility of anaphylactic shock, had recently become politicized. The major drug manufacturer...
View ArticleWhy AMD Stock Refuses To Create Wealth
Across the United States, there are over 600,000 individuals who receive live updates for business developments regarding the stock of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). This tech company manufactures...
View ArticleBuying T. Rowe Price Blue-Chip Growth (TRBCX) For Retirement
Shares of the T. Rowe Price Blue-Chip Growth Fund, which go by the ticker symbol TRBCX, have delivered 10% annual returns since its inception date of June 30th, 1993. It has beaten the S&P 500...
View ArticlePositioning Investments For A Trump Tax Cut
According to his website, President-Elect Donald Trump plans to lower the corporate tax to 15%. I’m getting this figure from page 3 of his tax plan on his website titled: “Tax Reform That Will Make...
View ArticleRevlon Stock Has Some Issues
I have noticed that the financial press has been looking favorably upon Ron Perelman’s Revlon stock, with even Barron’s describing “Revlon’s Beautiful Outlook.” The general argument in favor of Revlon...
View ArticleThriving Investing While Interest Rates Rise
For over three decades, the interest rates on debts have been generally sloping downwards. This has been the status quo for so long that major banking houses like U.S. Bancorp need to conduct special...
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