There are some can't miss ways to start an argument. Talk politics in a diverse room. Attend a Michigan home football game wearing an Ohio State jersey. Suggest that The Rolling Stones were better than the Doors and that Highlander was the best movie ever made. Or just decidedly state that buying a vehicle is better than leasing. The [...]
Everyday investors tend to speculate on stocks based on the often ill-conceived notion that they have unique information or better information than the rest of the investment world. This perception of ‘asymmetric information’ is often the polar opposite of reality. In fact, institutional investors have an enormous information advantage over retail investors – one that [...]
I was a recent college graduate and there I was on the trading desk of a large institutional investment manager, entrusted with a role well beyond the pay grade of a newly minted liberal arts history major. Like many people in their first job out of college, my primary objective was not to make a [...]
This time of year is referred to as the ‘season of giving’. Charities report that 31% of all charitable donations happen in December each year and that 12% of donations occur on the final three days of the year. There is good reason to believe that those percentages will increase dramatically in 2016. Proposed tax [...]
This time of year means open enrollment season and that means battling a consistent bevy of confusing acronyms: FSA, HSA, HRA, PPO, HMO, POS, and on. Reorienting every year to the different meanings, rules, and benefits of these acronyms is akin to relearning the scoring rules of curling every four years. Most Americans are interested [...]
Cybercrime will cost approximately $500 billion to the global economy this year and that number is expected to grow to $2 trillion by 2019. For criminals, the reward is great, the future is bright, and the risks are low. For consumers, the risks are high and the potential costs of time and dollars are real. As [...]
The idea of buying a vacation home together with friends has plenty of appeal. Splitting the costs among multiple families makes the financial burden more reasonable. Shared home ownership can make that desirable vacation home, which would otherwise be unaffordable for any one family, affordable as a group. Gone would be the days of searching [...]
In a prior article about saving for college, we outlined some of the many ways to handle overfunded 529 college savings plans and why these underpublicized options justify aggressive funding of 529 plans. In the opening paragraphs of that article, we explained how the rules treat 529 account funds used for non-qualified expenses: The first [...]
High income families faced with high annual taxes are often looking for ways to reduce their taxes or save additional dollars in tax-efficient ways. Unfortunately, these well-intentioned pursuits often result in irrational behaviors (such as permitting the government to shortchange your retirement savings) or unfavorable outcomes (such as paying more taxes than you would have [...]
Since Section 529 was added to the Internal Revenue Code under the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, many families have discovered the significant advantages of the “Qualified Tuition Programs” which we collectively now refer to as 529 College Savings Plans. Among other benefits, these plans offer tax-exempt investment growth for any funds eventually [...]
