Comments for SAVANTips

Comment on What is Inspired Legacy Planning? by Tracy Gary

Tracy Gary — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:51:19 +0000

thank you so much Jody,

Best, Tracy Gary, author of Inspired Philathropy: “Your Step by Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan and Leaving a Legacy.”

Comment on Health + Wellness by mradcliff

mradcliff — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:54:12 +0000

Disease Prevention
http://www.diseasepreventiontips.com Disease Prevention

Comment on Is It Better to Prepay a Mortgage or to Invest? by Bad Mortgage

Bad Mortgage — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:24:26 +0000

I prefer prepay the mortgage for two reasons :
- it is not comfortable to have debts
- there is always a risk in investing.

Comment on Long-Term Care Insurance - May Be Your Best Investment Yet by Chris Kerr

Chris Kerr — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:55:48 +0000

Well said, Scott. As always, your insight is impressive and helpful. Hope you are well. Best regards.

Comment on The Worst of Times…The Best of Times by Thomas A Muldowneym CMP

Thomas A Muldowneym CMP — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:08:38 +0000

Good points, Dan.

That’s why I say “The only one who will take care of you…is you!”

Best of luck.

TAM

Comment on The Worst of Times…The Best of Times by dan

dan — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:36:14 +0000

Yeah, Just like realtors have been telling everybody now is the best time to buy a house for the past 10 years, so it is with stocks. I expect the stock market will decline by another 20% this year, so those who buy into the market now will most likely see more financial ruin.

I fee sorry for the hard working people who didn’t speculate and now see our government ” letting” them make 2% on CD’s while at the same time the Fed bails out Goldman Sachs to the tune of billions of dollars, the banks that caused this whole mess in the first place. God bless America, land of Corporate bend over and touch your legs.

dan
rockton,IL

Comment on Welcome to SAVANTips! by Steven Hall

Steven Hall — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 10:37:01 +0000

Thank you so much. I was so sorry to see Bruce Brinkman leave town. So glad you picked it up.

Took me a while to get here but I’ll be back regularly.

Comment on Welcome to SAVANTips! by Brent Brodeski

Brent Brodeski — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:55:33 +0000

I am not a big fan of sector funds. Typically, investors use them for speculative purposes. Investors and advisors alike use them to make outsize bets on certain sectors they feel are hot (or will be hot). The problem with speculating on sector funds is that this is a very hard game to play. History is littered with people who purport to have crystal balls that project outsize market timing gains or market beating sector bets. These fortune tellers, masquerading as financial gurus, almost always end up being fraudulent (losing you money).

There are also other problems with sector funds. Compared to other broadly diversified equity funds (or better yet equity index funds), sector funds are more expensive and often tax nasty. Also, people who favor sector funds tend to too buy high and sell low. For example, the most popular type of sector fund in the late 90’s was the technology fund. People often bought the S&P 500 (which at the time had 40% in technology) at the same time they piled into technology sector funds. The result… they got their head handed to them as they were way over exposed to the most pricy and most risky sector of the market—technology.

A better way to invest is to buy index funds, ETF’s, asset class funds and structured funds that capture broad sector exposure to entire asset classes (i.e. the S&P 500 provides broad exposure to large U.S. stocks). This approach still offers significant exposure to healthcare and technology but in a cheaper, more tax-efficient and less speculative manner.

On the precious metals front, we DO believe it makes sense to invest a small portion of most investor’s portfolio in commodities. Though unlike precious metals funds, commodity funds also provide exposure to energy and agriculture. The advantage of commodity funds is that they act very different than stocks and bonds. They often zig when stocks and bonds zag. Said differently, they are excellent diversifiers for a traditional stock and bond portfolio. For example, as rising high oil prices have hurt stock prices lately, commodities have rallied. So if one owned a bit of a broadly diversified commodities fund (we suggest 3-5% of your overall portfolio) the gains in this asset class allow you to still afford higher priced gas!

Comment on Welcome to SAVANTips! by Joe Smith

Joe Smith — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:48:37 +0000

Great tips about Non- US stock. What is your philosophy on sector funds such as Precious Metals, Healthcare or Technology? How much allocation should be afforded for these types of investments? What are some of your favorite websites for information for the rest of us?

Comment on Is it time to invest overseas? by Brent Brodeski

Brent Brodeski — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 21:28:08 +0000

Great clarifying question! When I suggest 30% to foreign, I am referring to 30% of an investor’s total equity commitment. As such, if an investor puts 70% of their portfolio to equities (with the remainder to fixed income and preservation assets), and one applied my 30% rule to ONLY the 70% in equities, this equals the 21% total in foreign that you refer to. Said differently, 70% x 30% = 21%! Whether an investor should put any of their bonds overseas is a separate question. And, for the record, in general, we are not a huge fan of foreign bonds unless an investor has a very large part of their assets (typically > 50%) in fixed income. This is because foreign bonds are much more volatile than domestic bonds due to the extra currency risk.