Much has been made of the falling U.S. dollar, especially against the euro, British pound, and Canadian dollar.  Why is this happening and what can we do about it?  There are a few fundamental reasons for the dollar’s demise and a few (painful) remedies.
I must start by pointing out that fiat currencies, such as the [...]

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I love getting reader feedback because often, readers catch details I’m either not aware of or forget to mention.  Regular readers may remember my post How To Use Variable Annuities The Right Way in which I mention some of the more intelligent ways to use variable annuities to fatten your wallet (and not just the wallet [...]

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Today I would like to announce the official launch of The Finance Blog Network.  The network launches with three initial core members:  Curt from Penny Jobs, Andy from Saving To Invest, and I.  While we chose to start small, we will be looking to expand and take on new members in the coming weeks/months.  If you would [...]

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Muchas gracias to Squawkfox for a sexy, delicious, and fun carnival of personal finance 164.  Apparently, ranchers know the money is in the herd, and so is my post questioning whether your safety deposit box is really safe or not (P.S. it’s not).  But mine wasn’t the only awesome post this week.  Here are some others.
The Personal [...]

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In an interesting move, Vanguard annouced yesterday on their website that their Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTGSX) has modified its mandate to allow the fund to invest directly in the securities of foreign companies. Until now, the Total International Fund has been exclusively a fund-of-funds, meaning it invested in underlying mutual funds [...]

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In a recent article, Morningstar writer Wenli Tan notes that many go-anywhere funds have for the most part side-stepped recent turmoil and evaded serious losses. Some of this success can be attributed to these funds’ ability to short stocks (a profitable move during a bear market), but I believe most of it can be [...]

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The Intelligent Asset Allocator by William Bernstein is one of my all-time favorite investing books. In fact, it was the primary inspiration for the name of this blog. Although quite accessible to most readers, it does take on a slightly technical side at times. It will certainly help you understand many of [...]

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Fees are bad, and retirement plans are full of them.  Just as your investments compound over time, turning relatively small contributions into a substantial nest-egg, so too do expenses.  Every dollar in expenses taken out of your account today could easily reduce your nest-egg by $30 or more decades from now, just when you need [...]

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Special thanks to You Need A Budget for including my post about common misconceptions about government statistics in this week’s Carnival Of Personal Finance #163, the “Quotable Quotes” edition.  Here are a few of my favorite posts of the carnival.
On the psychological effects of ownwership and overpricing by The Personal Financier.  Anybody who’s bought real estate [...]

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