AdviceIQ Articles

  • Investing and Football

    Submitted by Adam D. Koos on Wed, 10/03/2012 - 12:00pm

     
    Investing in the markets is a lot like the game of football. You hear a lot of sports analogies applied to everything from selling merchandise to elections. This one, though, is instructive.
     

  • When to Start Social Security

    Submitted by Rick Kahler on Wed, 10/03/2012 - 9:00am

     
    "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." That may be good advice for pheasant hunters, but it isn’t necessarily great financial advice for deciding when to file for Social Security benefits. Delaying it often makes the most sense.
     
    Social Security pays your full benefit amount at your full retirement age (FRA). Depending on your birth year, this is around age 65 to 67. You can choose to take a lesser amount beginning at 62 or wait until 70 and receive a greater amount.
     

  • The Money You Need

    Submitted by Ray Ferrara on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 3:00pm

     
    The big questions are: How much money will you need to retire? Are your investments performing well enough to meet your needs? Do your kids’ student loans hurt you? Is your income declining or rising?
     
    A series of recent reports shows how Americans, especially those nearing retirement, face some tough challenges.
     
    Retirement: How Much Will You Need? Is there an easy formula to determine the size of the nest egg you need when you enter retirement?  The answer obviously is no, but there are some rules of thumb you can follow. 
     

  • Bracing for the 4th Quarter

    Submitted by Yale Bock on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 12:00pm

     
    The next three months may well bring big changes to the political and economic landscapes – more partisan warfare if the Democrat wins the White House, big policy changes of the Republican prevails and a strong possibility of a corporate earnings reduction.
     
    The political and corporate worlds overlap. Investors, buckle up.
     

  • Avoid Momentum Crashes

    Submitted by Matthew Tuttle on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 9:00am

    Momentum strategies, which ride investments that are rising, are a good way to maximize returns. But this method has a weakness: Momentum investing is prone to steep reversals. The way to avoid this is to stick to index mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, and couple that with another technique called trend following.
     

  • Get Debt-Free Faster

    Submitted by Kimberly J. Howard on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 3:00pm

     
    There is no way to achieve financial freedom if you are burdened with debt. With proper planning and a bit of patience, though, you can get out from under.
     
    You can’t clear off all your debt overnight even if you enroll debt management plan, and all the while, you accumulate huge interest and late fine penalties.
     
    Here are a few steps that you can take to get back on your feet faster.
     

  • The Harm of Mental Shortcuts

    Submitted by David Zuckerman on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 12:00pm

    Traditional economics works on the assumption that people process information in an objective and unbiased manner. The reality is that most people rely on their own experiences rather than rigorous analysis.
     
    Our natural tendency to make impulsive decisions based on by the most readily available information can lead to financial disaster. This mental shortcut is called availability bias.
     
    Memories Are Biased
     

  • Protection Against Disability

    Submitted by A. Christopher Engel on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 9:00am

    If you are sick or injured, you likely have health insurance to pay for your care? But if you aren’t working because you are laid up, how will you pay your bills? That’s where disability insurance comes in. Sadly, too few are adequately covered.
     

  • Credit Card Gender Gap

    Submitted by Catherine Seeber on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 3:00pm

     
    Credit cards cost Americans over $75 billion in interest and fees every year, and they hurt women more than men.
     

  • The Case for Preferred Stock

    Submitted by David Zuckerman on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 12:00pm

    Looking for yield? Preferred stock may be right for you. Its dividends often are superior to those of common shares and sometimes even better than bond interest.
     

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SMART ADVICE

 

A Tragic Mistake: ‘I Don’t Need Help Handling my Money’

 

By Larry Light, Editor-in-Chief

May 1, 2013

 

We all like to think we’re smart and self-sufficient. A lot of folks believe they can manage their financial lives by themselves. These do-it-yourselfers are woefully wrong.

 

AdviceIQ is about giving the world the wisdom of smart, honest (none can have any regulatory infractions) advisors. Are we blindly pro-advisor? No, we are clear-eyed about being pro-good advisor. Everyone, even the financial cognoscenti, should have such a helper to sort out life’s perplexities.

 

Lamentably, the financial crisis and the Bernard Madoff scandal convinced many to steer clear of advisors. According to a Deloitte consulting firm study, 57% of those polled say they’re more comfortable handling their retirement planning on their own. Plus, 38% contend they need no professional advice to plan.

 

Really? A story from Paul Sullivan shows how wrong-headed they are. Sullivan is enormously well-versed in personal finance, which he writes about for the New York Times. But it turns out that even he could use some help with his portfolio. One day he went before Tiger 21, an investment club of very wealthy (with at least $10 million in net worth) types who assessed his financial situation. To Sullivan’s surprise and dismay, the group found major holes: He and his wife didn’t have enough insurance, they carried an unneeded vacation home and spent too much.

 

The blasé DIY attitude vexes Edmond Walters, founder and chief executive of eMoney Advisor, which provides support services to advisors. He watches discount broker TV ads that promise you can direct your investments by yourself, without paying an advisor. “It’s dangerous,” he says. “The ads say you can come home after work and spend a couple of hours trading a month. But the professionals have a lot more information than you.” Result: You get slammed.

 

As the Times’ Sullivan attests, it’s good to have a more knowledgeable someone guiding you, an expert who keeps up with all the arcane changes in the financial arena. Do you know how much disability coverage you need? Are you saving adequately for your kids’ education? How much money are you wasting for no good reason? Will your investments support you through your retirement?

 

Walters spent almost two decades as an advisor before he started his current company. “But,” he says, “even I have an advisor.”

 

 

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