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Glenn Dahlke - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
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Glenn Dahlke Email Alerts
- The Economic Crisis - Lessons to Be Learned and the Outlook For the Future
[Investing:Stocks] Let's first agree on a couple of things. Neither you or I know where the bottom of the stock market lies. Your broker doesn't have a clue and our newly elected President wishes this current economic crisis would just go away.
- Guidelines For Green Investing
[Finance:Wealth-Building] It may be time to start loading up on some of those "green" companies, the environmental friendly corporations whose products we will be legislated and socially driven into using whether we want to save the planet or not. There's that annoying little voice again telling you that even though your investment portfolio seems to be slipping deeper into despair, the bargains are out there and a little bit of research is sure to uncover your next home run. It may even be time to start loading up on some of those "green" companies, the environmental friendly corporations ...
- Investing During a Recession - Bail Out Or Build Up?
[Investing] Watching money recede probably isn't your favorite spectator sport and there may be an overwhelming urge to jump in the game to change the momentum your way. But, before taking the field, you'd be smart to review the tapes of previous games.
- As Options Fade - Restricted Stock Gains In Popularity
[Investing] As publicly traded companies move away from stock options as a way to reward and motivate their employees, there's a growing trend to issue "restricted stock" as an alternate compensation choice.
- Don't Rollover That 401(k) Just Yet
[Finance:Personal-Finance] With the onslaught of impending baby boomer retirements, advice regarding distributions from employer-sponsored retirement plans abound. While it is generally good advice to roll-over qualified employer retirement plan assets to an IRA, that may not be good advise for anyone whose 401(k) plan contains employer stock with "net unrealized appreciation (NUA)."
- What The IRS Has in Store for Limits and Contributions in 2007
[Finance:Taxes] Here are the new limits and contributions on IRA contributions, social security wage base, tax brackets, etc. for 2007 as set by the Internal Revenue Service.
- Year-End Tax Tips for Investments
[Finance:Personal-Finance] Yes, its that time of year again, time for every financial column to drum into your head all the year-end investing tax tips. It's the equivalent of your list to Santa. You either take care of it by year-end or you take your chances. Consider yourself warned.
- Financial Planning: Four Building Blocks to Pay Yourself First
[Finance:Personal-Finance] I recently read a financial advice column that began with the premise that putting money away for retirement was extremely difficult because "its hard to part" with money for a future need.
What's wrong with this picture?
Money saved for retirement is not separated from you as the writer suggests. It's still your money. If you want to part with your hard earned income, I suggest you visit a casino. You'll quickly realize the difference between putting dollars in a slot machine and a retirement plan.
- Investing for Retirement: The Problem with “Age-Based” Allocation Models
[Home-and-Family:Retirement] Since the advent of 401(k) plans, employees have been empowered to take responsibility for their retirement assets by controlling the placement of their investment dollars. Over time, many employees have been ill-equipped and uncomfortable in making those decisions. In response, plan vendors have come up with a number of helpful models, two of the more popular being "lifestyle" and "age-based" asset allocations.
- Investing in Stocks: To Hold or Sell Yesterday's Winner?
[Investing] Here's the issue. You bought a stock umpteen years ago that is now worth 10 times what you paid for it, but in the last 5 years its trading price seems to be super glued to the wall. You have always been a proponent of "buy and hold" and this stock seems to bear out the wisdom of that strategy. But now you're not sure - maybe it is time to move on to something else.
- Aunt Betty's Pet Trust
[Legal:Elder-Law] My Aunt Betty’s closest companions have always been her cats. Ever since I was a boy, my family never traveled to the Midwest to visit just Betty. It was always Betty and Roscoe or Betty and Fluffy. She’s always loved those feline friends and, as age crept up on her, she started to speculate what would become of them upon her eventual demise.
- Stock Buyback Plans: Sometimes They're Not What they Appear To Be
[Investing:Stocks] Delta Widget, Inc. has just made you a tender offer to buy back its shares of stock, which you bought from your broker a few years ago. The stock price hasn’t grown as expected and the tender offer is just slightly over market value. It's tempting to take the offer. On the other hand, when Delta Widget buys its own stock back, there will be less stock outstanding, and that could help boost its price.
- Taking Stock of Your Inheritance from Uncle Harry
[Finance:Personal-Finance] So Uncle Harry's estate has finally been settled and you have been blessed with both his extensive wardrobe and a tidy sum of his investment portfolio. Harry was not only the sharpest dresser in the family, but the financial guru as well.
Now, if you can just nurse your new holdings along, you may someday be able to retire in the standard to which you would like to become accustomed.
- Funding College Education Through IRA Early Withdrawals
[Investing:IRA-401k] If you are looking for some education money for yourself or your spouse, or your children or your grandchildren, and you have not reached age 59 1/2, consider a withdrawal from either your traditional IRA or your Roth IRA, without having to pay the 10% additional tax penalty on the withdrawal.
- The Housing Bubble in 2006: Part I - Is it Boom or Bust?
[Real-Estate] Low interest rates and relatively easy access to mortgage money are just two factors that have caused a boom in residential real estate prices over the past few years. This phenomena has caused a number of analysts to ask whether a national "housing bubble" now exists and how its potential collapse could effect the economy. This is a complicated subject that is influenced by both national and regional issues.
- Using Urban Legends to Beat the Market
[Investing] Forget fundamental research, put aside those technical charts and, by all means, turn off those cable business programs. If you really want to know what’s going to happen in the stock market, all you need to follow are a number of urban legends.
- Your Gift from the IRS for 2006: New Limits and Contribution Amounts
[Finance:Personal-Finance] Here are some of the changes in contributions and compensation limits that are in place for 2006.
- I Bonds: Treasuries With An Inflationary Kicker
[Investing:Stocks] There must be a touch of inflation in the air, since a few clients have been calling with questions regarding I Bonds. With the low inflationary environment of late, there hasn’t been a lot of press concerning I Bonds. But since we don't know what evil lurks around the economic corner, it may be time to review what these I Bonds are all about.
- Dollar Cost Averaging: Taking Some Volatility Out of the Portfolio
[Investing] One of the holy grails of investing is the ability to achieve a decent return without volatility. After all, I think we all learned somewhere along the line that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. To say we are a long way from achieving that goal is certainly an understatement. But, until we do achieve that goal, dollar cost averaging can help.
- Free Cash Flow: A Simple Indicator of a Company's Health
[Investing] One of the best indicators of corporate health is the Free Cash Flow (FCF) of a company and, unlike some other indicators, it is relatively easy to understand.
- Dogs of the Dow: A Nifty Strategy for Potentially Increasing Yield in Your Living Trust
[Investing] Increasing yield - while maintaining an appropriate allocation - is often a difficult trick for trustees of living trusts. But one tool you can pull out of your kit is the “Dogs of the Dow,” a contrarian strategy designed to potentially increase yield and growth.
- Using Standard Deviation and the Sharpe Ratio: Tools of the Pros
[Investing] Standard Deviation and the Sharpe Ratio are two basic tools that are used by investment professionals for determining risk and, with a little practice, you can be using them too.
- Laddering Bonds: Basics To Know
[Investing] Volatility of income can be as much a concern as volatility of growth, perhaps more so since income is an immediate need. Therefore, it makes sense to say that a strategy to stabilize income is a necessary component of portfolio management - and “bond laddering” can help get you there.
- The Annual Gift Tax Exclusion: Getting The Edge
[Finance:Taxes] Whether helping the kids with a down payment on their first home, paying the premiums on a life insurance policy in an irrevocable trust, or moving appreciated assets to a younger generation, annual gifting will touch the lives of millions of Americans. But before the transfer is made, an investor should spend some time looking at the investment and the tax ramifications of the property to be passed.
- Dividend Reinvestment Plans: Investing on Automatic Pilot
[Investing:Stocks] If you're like many investors who squander those small dividend checks from your stock portfolio, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) might be just what you need. Just as its name implies, a Dividend Reinvestment Plan allows you to reinvest some or all of those dividends into more stock of the issuing company. Unlike purchases made through traditional means, partial or fractional shares, as well as whole shares, are available.
- Living Trust Investing: Income Considerations when the Grantor Dies
[Investing:Stocks] A common problem I often see when working with living trust beneficiaries and trustees is the lack of attention in rethinking income strategies in the event of the grantor's death.
- The Exclusive Club of Large Caps
[Investing:Stocks] Picture one of those clubs where only the real heavyweights need apply. In the library the old aristocrats, General Motors and JP Morgan, are dozing in their leather chairs. On the terrace, a late luncheon is underway for those who have only improved their standing through marriage. ExxonMobil and Citigroup are part of the party. At the bar, a number of the"nouveau riche" have gathered - Microsoft seems to be buying for Intel and Hewlett Packard. Welcome to the world of the Large Cap Stock Club, the biggest of the worlds publicly traded companies.
- Mid-Cap Stocks: Asset Class with an Identity Crisis
[Investing:Stocks] Much like the middle child, mid-cap stocks have long struggled to find their identity. Carved out from the upper echelons of the small caps and the lower end of the large caps, the mid-cap sector has a rough definition of stock with a market capitalization of greater than $2 billion, but less than $10 billion. Taking components from both worlds, some analysts argue that mid-cap stocks can offer growth opportunities found in the small caps and the relative stability found in the large caps.
- Small-Cap Stocks: The Beginning of the Journey
[Investing:Stocks] When an individual investor wants to roll up his sleeves and do some research in the pursuit of the next big winner in the stock market, the place many start is in the small cap sector.
- Makin' The Sauce
[Investing] If you're going to get serious about investing, you should first understand the basic asset allocation growth models and how they affect the outcome of your portfolio.
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