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personal finance
personal finance
Review Of Mint.com's New Investment-Tracking Features
I got to check out personal finance management site Mint.com's new investment-tracking component before the private beta launches tomorrow. You can now add Brokerage, IRA, 401k and 529 assets. The two biggest things it offers are line graphs, and a way to see all the fees, dividends, deposits and withdrawals in one, clear, organized window. Unlike with the credit card tracking, they don't seem to be making any suggestions about how you might save money by switching to a different investment firm. You also can't yet push assets between accounts through Mint. As before, you will have to give up your username and password to your various financial services to let Mint scrape the data. The new brokerage features are hardly mind-blowing, but by having investment-tracking now Mint can basically be your entire financial dashboard, you just can't touch all the levers yet. Sexy screenshots, inside... More »
Personal finance management site Mint.com is launching a beta for its new investment tracking system on May 6th. [Mint]
Warren Buffett invests like a girl, and you should too. [The Motley Fool]
stocks
Why You Shouldn't Invest in Your Company's Stock
Stories are emerging of Bear Stearns employees with significant losses in their company stock-based retirement holdings. Examples: a nine-year employee has reported losing $600,000 and a seven-year veteran lost $400,000. Similar stories are likely to emerge in months to come. And though subsequent reports may not feature staggering amounts like these, there are sure to be many with losses that are devastating to their personal finances. This situation underscores a basic guideline of investing: don't put more than 10% to 20% of your portfolio value into your company's stock. Why? More »
investing
Don't Sell Your Stocks In A Bad Market
If you're a stock or mutual fund investor, odds are you've had second (or third or fourth) thoughts about what to do in this mostly down rollercoaster of a market. Between episodes of popping Tums and chugging Pepto-Bismol, it's likely that you've contemplated selling your stocks and waiting on the sidelines until things settle down a bit. CNN Money says that while this might seem like a wise path, it's exactly the wrong thing to do. They list four reasons why you shouldn't sell now, but the one that stands out among the pack is their reason no. 3 — you underestimate the risk of being out of stocks: More »
scams
Is Your CEO Getting Kickbacks Off Your 401k Fees?
Author David Loeper over in the WiseBread forums explains how your CEO could be getting a kickback from excessive fees on your company's 401k. The "administration fees" on some company's 401ks are sometimes 20 times as much as what it actually costs to run the fund. Part of these fees go back to the 401k admin via "revenue sharing." Usually the admin keeps it but sometimes they're so big that they go back to the employee's accounts. But instead of being credited back equally...
More »
investing
Should I Invest In My Company's 401(k) Or Get It Alone?
Crapple writes:
More »
I'm 27, looking to start planning for retirement. My company has an arrangement through The Hartford group for our 401K and I read your article on Fund Level Expenses and how the broker will be earning compound interest on MY compound interest. I also ran across this article while researching:(and it also links to a Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer that might be handy for other Consumerist readers). The article is talking about getting yourself involved in an Index Fund that would have fee's of around .19% or so and going it alone.Most of the 16 investment options I have through The Hartford have a fee of over 1% (many over 1.25%)...
investing
Study Links Speeding Tickets And Risky Trading
People who get a lot of speeding tickets also engage in risky investing behavior, according to a new study. Finnish researchers compared a speeding ticket database and a database of all the trading portfolios of Finnish households. Their findings suggest that for these speeders, a sensible long-term investment strategy simply isn't interesting enough for them. They crave the thrill and excitement of churning over their investments more frequently. Each successive speeding ticket and investor received correlated to an 11 percent increase in their portfolio turnover. On average, the stocks they bought didn't do any better than the ones they had just sold.
Sensation Seeking, Overconfidence, and Trading Activity (PDF) [via NYT]
(Photo: Getty)
scams
How Your 401(k) Is Ripping You Off
Another chapter in Bob Sullivan's excellent book Gotcha Capitalism explores how Wall Street quietly devours your retirement plan through an array of hidden fees. Bob quotes a Wall Street money manager as saying, "If we had to disclose fees, half the people in this room wouldn't have jobs." More »
1:00 PM on Thu Jan 31 2008
By Ben Popken
19,474 views,
60 comments
Personal finance blog FiLife's Ron Leiber on why he bought stocks this morning: because he's nowhere close to retirement. [FiLife]
On investing in scary times: "The bottom line: If you don't have a plan, develop one. If you do have one, stick to it," - Larry Swedroe. [All Financial Matters]
Just checking annnnnnnnnnnd... yep... global stock markets remain in turmoil. [NYT]
economy
U.S. Markets Down Sharply Despite Emergency Rate Cut
Despite the fact that the Fed cut the federal funds rate on overnight loans between banks to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent in an attempt to prevent a sell-off in U.S. markets, the Dow Jones Industrial average opened down by more than 460 points. More »
In the first cost-cutting move by new Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, 4,000 jobs were cut. Its stock subsequently sunk 26% to a new 52-week low of $8.56. Wall Street is overreacting, we have this feeling in our heart of hearts that Hesse can turn things around. [Reuters]
If you're looking to invest in mutual funds and avoid capital gains tax, Vanguard Tax Managed International Fund (VTMGX) and Third Avenue Value Fund (TAVFX) are recommended as funds to look into, along with index funds and ETFs (exchange traded funds) in general. [WSJ]
Circuit City posted a rather large loss this quarter, $207.3 million, up from $20.4 million a year ago. Stocks fell nearly 21% on the news. We went into a Circuit City a few years ago and remember it as being overwhelmingly gray in color. [CNN Money]
oops
Sallie Mae CEO Ends Conference Call With "Let's Get The Fuck Out Of Here"
Dodging tough questions about the student loan company's fiscal well-being and strategy in the midst of the credit crunch, not to mention his recent sale of 97% of his company stock, Sallie Mae's CEO ended a conference call yesterday with investors by cursing, reports WSJ:
In an apparent reference to investors' anger, he said: "I can assure you, you will be going through a metal detector." He ended the conference call by saying "Let's go. There's no questions. Let's get the [expletive] out of here."Afterwards, shares of Sallie Mae fell 21%.Sallie Mae spokesman Tom Joyce called the metal-detector remark "an attempt at humor" and the expletive "an unfortunate slip of the tongue." Mr. Joyce said the call had been intended for Mr. Lord, in his new role, to give investors a "broad overview" of the company's situation.
Sallie Mae: Expletive Included [WSJ]
Full Conference Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha]
(Photo: Susan Biddle)
