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November 25th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Investing

It’s November and nearly the end of the year.  Many investment advisors, personal finance advisors suggest looking at your portfolio at the end of the year and reevaluating your diversification and investment strategy.  December is a great time to harvest gains and take some losses as well.  But honestly the weeks between Thanksgiving and New [...]

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Roth IRA or 401k?

July 13th, 2009 · 13 Comments · Investing, Retirement

My cousin is just starting out his first job.  Advice from his parents, friends, and family?  Start saving for retirement.  But no one is giving him any help other than invest now, the market is low.
So should he do a Roth IRA or 401k?  Well a Roth IRA is great if you qualify for it. [...]

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Getting Advice

March 24th, 2009 · 14 Comments · Personal Finance

By now everyone knows about Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme.  We know he milked rich investors with lucrative “investment returns.”  So what happened?
Well a Ponzi Scheme is where investors are paid returns on their money from later investor’s money.  It’s a continually cycle where you keep taking in money and then paying it out to people [...]

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5 stages of Grief Investing

March 10th, 2009 · 8 Comments · Investing

I think this an interesting article and video from a Swiss Psychologist thinks about the “5 Stages of Grief Investing.”  Basically she applies typical psychoanalysis to what people are going through as they suffer through today’s economy.  What are the five stages?
First up – Denial.  It’s where you refuse to believe that acknowledge the economy [...]

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Walking the Walk?

December 11th, 2008 · 8 Comments · Investing

Nickel from FiveCentNickel, asks “How is your Risk Tolerance Holding up?”  With the market and US economy in shambles are you practicing what every investor preaches?  Buy and hold for the long term.  Don’t worry about the short term but look long term?  Are you really walking the walk?
I mentioned that I had peeked at [...]

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I peeked

November 26th, 2008 · 16 Comments · Investing, Retirement

Okay I peeked.  Yep I looked to see what was going on with our accounts.  So what happened?  We have $54k in retirement savings.  We started the year with $68k and added $25.5k with a Roth IRAs and 401k maxed out.  We also got a $5700 company match.  So we “added” $29.6k thus far this [...]

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Stop investing, but not from fear

November 1st, 2008 · 18 Comments · Economy, Investing, Savings

Okay, since I’m posting my net worth, I am probably going to be ready to cry soon. I know our investments are down like 30-40% for the year.  Sure it’s bad but we’ve got time to rebound and recoup.  We’re still investing and sitting tight. No panicked selling though I have to reconsider what we [...]

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To sell or hold?

July 1st, 2008 · 2 Comments · Investing, Personal Finance

Today DH’s ESPP bought his company stock at a 15% discount.  It happens every three months.  It’s been a good savings vehicle for us for tuition, home repairs, etc.  We save 10% of our salary and get about a 10% return when we sell the stock immediately.  However, it does take a few days to [...]

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CNBC Million Dollar Challenge Week 4 Update

April 7th, 2007 · No Comments · $1 million portfolio challenge, Investing

Okay I’ve been slacking off on updating everyone on my portfolio for the million dollar challenge over at CNBC. I think I’m doing pretty well. I had money in New Century Financial which went bankrupt, but overall I believe that I am doing pretty well.
My total return has been 12.19%!
Rank: 50465
Percentile: Top 9%
Total Portfolio Value: [...]

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