Recent posts by Craig Stock
Craig Stock heads Vanguard's Corporate Marketing and Communications department, responsible for delivering investor information and education in Vanguard’s "plain talk" style.
The idea that you should have a cash reserve equal to three to six months of your living expenses would almost certainly make any “Ten Commandments” list for personal finance.
It might also be one of the least obeyed commandments, as suggested in a recent post by my colleague Ellen Rinaldi. I wholeheartedly agree with Ellen’s emphasis on having a cash reserve—savings stashed in a bank account or money market fund—before getting too focused on investing.
We spent part of last weekend looking for replacements for our old washer and dryer, which definitely were on their last legs. In doing a bit of research before heading for the appliance store, I found an unexpected parallel with investing.
One of the biggest frustrations for investors is that there is one huge factor no one can control—the returns that the financial markets are going to provide in any given stretch of time.
When we first start investing, we probably ought to receive the serenity prayer* along with the prospectus for whatever fund or security we’re purchasing.
In an earlier post, I asked readers to share techniques that have helped them to save. After all, spending less than you earn is the essential first step in investing. Vanguard shareholders tend to be people who’ve long made thrift a habit. And it’s a habit many folks, confronted with today’s tougher economic and market climate, are trying to pick up.
I’ve been thinking about predictions the past few days since an old pal, Jim, called—his voice brimming with cheer. It was after another of those depressing down days in the stock market that we’ve seen all too often lately. Jim, a longtime options trader, is still involved in investments. I wondered why he was so chipper.
“I just realized,” he chirped, “that the market’s almost back down to where it was in 1995, when you were saying you thought it was getting overvalued.”