An IRA is a retirement savings account, right? Indeed it is. IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement. Even with that definition, however, there is no prohibition on using an IRA to save for other purposes, such as funding a college education. Why would anyone choose an IRA as a college savings vehicle? At first glance…

PACE OF HIRING SLOWED IN AUGUST Last month, 173,000 Americans found new jobs. Economists polled by MarketWatch forecast 213,000 new hires; analysts surveyed by the Wall Street Journal projected 220,000. There were definite silver linings within this disappointing Labor Department report, however. Annualized wage growth increased to 2.2%. June and July job gains were both…

“I’m no good on what going on in markets. I have no idea what will happen tomorrow or next week. They get very volatile like this and other times they put you to sleep. But the important thing is where they’re going in five or ten years. And I’m confident they’ll be considerably higher in…

As a young investor, you have a powerful ally on your side: time. When you start saving and investing for retirement in your twenties or thirties, you can put it to work for you. The effect of compounding is huge. Most people underestimate it, so it is worth illustrating. We will use reasonable annual return…

Regardless of the source of the money, logically, we know the value is the same, but somehow, a dollar we earn is “worth” more than the dollar we find. Research shows that those who won money in a radio contest were more likely to spend the money than those who earned it by working overtime…

Perhaps money can’t buy happiness after all. Minecraft creator and billionaire Markus “Notch” Persson revealed over the weekend that he is extremely depressed and dissatisified with his life. This may come as a surprise to anyone who’s ever struggled to make ends meet. In September 2014, Persson sold Minecraft for $2.5 billion.With his newly acquired sudden…

No one knows what will happen tomorrow on Wall Street. Even the most esteemed analysts can only make educated guesses. As the old saying goes: past performance is not indicative of future results. All that said, the market has had many more positive years than negative years. The history of the S&P 500 is worth…

Investors are routinely warned about allowing their emotions to influence their financial decisions.  They are less routinely cautioned about letting their preconceptions and biases color their financial choices. In a battle between the facts & our preconceptions, our preconceptions may win. If we acknowledge this tendency, we may be able to avoid some unexamined choices…

When will the stock market stabilize? As the last trading week of August began, worried investors wondered just that. Gains for the major indices were hard to imagine at Monday’s opening bell, but few imagined the Dow Jones Industrial Average would drop 1,089 points as trading began – a new record, as the blue chips…

CHINA DATA, CRUDE PRICES DRIVE MAJOR SELLOFF Fierce headwinds hit Wall Street last week. A report showed that Chinese factory activity hit a 6-year low in July, raising serious doubts about whether that country’s economy was still maintaining 7% annual growth. (The Shanghai Composite lost 4.3% Friday and 11% for the week.) Friday, WTI crude…