Evidence from numerous studies on behavioral finance suggests that the need for emotional comfort costs the average investor around 2-3% per year in foregone investment return. This shortfall, commonly referred to as the “behavior gap,” stems from the fact that optimal long-term financial decisions are often very uncomfortable to live with in the short-term.
These days, the rage is all about passive investing. That’s because over the last few decades, it’s become crystal clear that active management (aka. stock picking) doesn’t work. Even the most astute stock pickers, with millions of dollars’ worth of research at their fingertips, consistently underperform basic index funds.
Tune in to the stock market on any given day, and you’ll likely find the major averages zooming in one direction or the other. Sometimes the moves are choppy, rising and falling while generally heading nowhere, while other times the market can seemingly run for weeks or months in one direction.
If you’re one of the roughly 75% of investors who are using a target-date fund in your retirement plan, you need to read this. We’ve written about why you should say no to target-date funds before, but new research provides the clearest evidence yet for why these funds must be avoided.
Here at Model Investing, we’re constantly trying to innovate to ensure that we deliver the best performance possible for our clients. Over the past couple of years, we’ve been working to refine and enhance our suite of Investment Models, and today we’re proud to announce the upcoming release of new versions of each of our models.
In a previous article, we took a look at the business cycle to understand how the natural ebb and flow of our economy impacts things like asset prices, wages and interest rates. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into what exactly causes those dreaded periods we call recessions.
In the quest to become a savvy investor, one of the most important concepts you must understand is that of the business cycle. This periodic ebb and flow of our economy exerts tremendous influence not just on asset prices, but on everything from interest rates to the availability of jobs. Since nearly every aspect of your financial life will be influenced in some way by the business cycle, it pays to have a basic conceptual understanding.
Mutual funds have long been a staple for investors, offering instant diversification and the prospect of having a professional money manager in charge of your portfolio. But changes to the structure of investment vehicles, specifically the introduction of exchanged-traded funds (ETFs), have rendered the old-school mutual fund obsolete.
As you begin to set aside money for retirement, one of the first and most critical decisions you’ll face is what type of account to put that money in. Should you contribute to your 401(k) first? Or is paying down debt a better idea? What about an IRA or a 529 plan? Should you be contributing to those as well? And what do mason jars and your mattress have to do with any of this? These are the types of questions we’ll attempt to answer as we explore the most effective way to save for retirement.
When you begin to save for retirement, the easiest way to get started is to enroll in your employer-sponsored retirement plan (401(k), 403(b), TSP, etc.). The next step (or the first step, for those who don’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan) is generally to open an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). These types of accounts provide great tax advantages, and come in two types: “Roth” and “Traditional.”
