January 2010 archive

What have we learned?

By John Ameriks on January 7, 2010 9:52 am

Like everyone else, I’ve been reading (well, skimming) reams of year-end—and in some places, “decade-end”—economic summaries. There’s lots of talk about black swans, financial “Frankensteins,” lost decades, and fundamental changes in investor behavior.

Black swans are old news, and I’ve written on financial innovation and lost decades previously. And I’ve only got a tiny bit to say about investor behavior. I’ll get to that after sharing a few other observations I wish got more attention in all this year-in-reviewing.

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Is your financial advisor worth it?

By Ellen Rinaldi on January 4, 2010 12:03 pm

If you rely on a financial advisory firm to manage your assets, how do you know if you’re getting what you pay for?

We think the answer to this question comes down to several specific points, one of which (an important one, but by no means the only one) is investment performance. If your advisor hasn’t at least outperformed broad market indexes by the amount of his or her advisory fees, ask yourself whether it might have been simpler to invest in broad index funds on your own.

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