What happens is when something does well, people throw money at it.
So look at the funds you own or ones you're considering buying. All that information can only make you a smarter investor.
I have a feeling this market is going to stay very volatile. But it's day-to-day volatility. It scares you. but it shouldn't change your investment strategies.
For small investors, they probably aren't the place to be.
If it's a straight increase without other hooks in there, it's a great thing.
People may have a better feeling psychologically than they did at the end of the year. They're a little more comfortable. So this is a good time to do a self-assessment.
People look at technology like it's a shining star, but it's no different than any other sector. A few good years can really pull up the averages. But a few bad years can really pull down the averages.
With a 401(k), people don't realize how much they can save in taxes. They're clueless.
When people buy the hottest stocks or the hottest funds, they end up having less and less diversification.
With interest rates rising, we're advising people to go back to bonds.
Brand recognition is nice, but a fund company that has a lot of good performers may be an indication of strong research. But not all funds will do well.
Even though he is not eligible for the 401K, he can allocate this money into his non-qualified investments and then stop those savings when he starts his 401K.
Doubling the student loan payment will reduce the time it takes to pay the loan, but the total savings in interest will be marginal.
Don't look at the past six months. Look at the past five, 10 or 20 years of returns.
The wild card is capital gains distributions. So you have to be very careful when you're changing your portfolio.
People shouldn't chase returns. The average investor looks back at returns and buys based on performance. But people have to look at the worst-performing sectors, not the best-performing ones. That's where the smart investor goes.
People should look at this market as a great learning experience. The best learning experience of how much risk you want to take is going through a down market.
People tend to believe that whatever is doing well at the moment will always do well. In the 1990s everybody said value investing was dead and never to return, but managers who stuck to their guns obviously proved that wasn't the case.
Young people are always afraid to commit money long-term.
A lot of people just look at how the fund did last year and the Morningstar stars, but that's just the tip of the iceberg.
It looks like he can save a lot of money each year since he has low expenses.
It's been a hard lesson for some, and a good lesson for most people.
It sounds like a broken record, and it's boring. It's something we definitely don't want to keep rubbing in people's faces. But it goes to show that diversification works.
I know people think three days is long term in the market these days. But if you're a long-term investor, 2, 3, 4 percent swings, which are big moves in a day, are meaningless when you look back.
If you're not willing to invest more in it, maybe you should sell and invest somewhere else.
In the last several years there hasn't been much of a downside. There hasn't been much of a downside, so people have been spoiled. They don't have a clue as to how it really works.
Investors have been buying a lot of securities in the last year that haven't made a lot of sense to buy. They bought stocks without knowing why, and so now they're selling stocks without knowing why.
In sector plays, you should buy after a down period, when the numbers look terrible. But when you look at a fund, if similar funds have done well and one fund has done poorly, you don't use that logic.
If he saves $2,500 between his 401(k) and outside savings, which he plans to do, this will grow to $526,450 at 8 percent over the next 11 years. The IRA rollover would add an additional $385,000 by age 57, bringing his investments, not including real estate, to over $900,000.
For people who are looking to get into this market, they probably should not have more than 20 percent in tech.