Do stocks get less risky with time?  That’s actually an interesting question and the answer, as with most things, is “it depends.”  For most of our investing lives, it’s been beat into our head by the more responsible financial gurus that stocks are for the long term.  That is, if you value your wealth you [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, Morningstar writer Christine Benz wrote a piece entitled Four Investment Rules To Ignore in which she details investment “rules” that may seem logical at first glance but are actually counterproductive.  It’s all pretty standard advice except for the third point.  According to Christine,
“…an individual’s assessment of his or her risk tolerance should play second [...]

[Read more →]

In volatile times, investors often flock to investments with perceived safety.  These investments include short-term treasury bills, precious metals such as gold, and hard assets such as real estate and commodities.  All of these asset classes have a place in a well-diversified and balanced portfolio.   Commodities in particular offer an interesting investment proposition.  On their [...]

[Read more →]

At its root, portfolio theory is about guarding against uncertainty.  If you knew ahead of time which stocks or asset classes would perform best in any given time period, it would be foolish to diversify.  Unfortunately, crystal balls that accurate are really, really expensive.  Since most of us aren’t privy to such information, we have [...]

[Read more →]