You: How’s it going in Chicago?
Great – except this blue-line El construction is enough to drive someone to, well, drive in Chicago.
You: Yeah, they say it will be much better when the construction is over.
Ha! That’s a good one!
You: Hey, just trying to keep it light. So what’s new?
Well, last night’s seminar at [...]
You: How can I increase my investment returns without increasing my risk?
Gary: No problem. The answer, my good friend, is a variable universal flexible-life totally guaranteed–
Oh, stop the madness. Look, there are very few guarantees in investing. But several decades of investment history make the following a virtual fact:
The less risk you take, [...]
Continue reading about Strategy # 22: Expected risk and reward move together
You: Hey, I went to register for your free seminar at the ING DIRECT cafe on Monday night July 30, 2007 and it’s full? What’s the deal?
Registrations went quickly. So fast, in fact, that we reached capacity of the cafe – about 100. (Looks like some people are already taking advantage of [...]
You: How can I determine how much risk to take when investing?
The appropriate amount of risk you should take depends on several factors, as we discuss in Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck. One of the most important considerations, however, is your risk tolerance.
You: My risk tolerance? Last week, when I was out with a [...]
Continue reading about Strategy # 21: You can’t grow your risk tolerance at a bar
You: Is financial planning software worth it?
Why do you ask?
You: Well, I mean, what does it do that’s so special? I don’t have much money to invest right now anyway.
Financial planning software is about much more than tracking your investments the same way financial planning is about much more than investing planning.
You: It [...]
Continue reading about Strategy # 20: Financial planning software is an investment.
After a presentation I gave yesterday, a sixty-something gentleman came up to me and told me how the Chinese-American members of his family have completely different attitudes about savings than the American family members do. He said the Chinese Americans save 25% of their pay with no hesitation.
I wasn’t surprised.
You: Major in Chinese studies in [...]
Continue reading about The Importance of Culture and Attitudes
You: Because an mp3 player can hold thousands of songs and an IRA can hold thousands of dollars?
Not the answer I was going for first, but you’ve definitely identified one way mp3 players and IRAs are similar. But there’s something even more important about their similarities that I need to share with [...]
Continue reading about Strategy # 19: How an IRA is like an mp3 player
You: When are you coming to Chicago already? You lived here for three years, you say you loved it, and yet you haven’t been back since early 2006 – what’s the deal? The Cubs are playing well, the sun is shining. . .
I’m finally coming back to Chicago and will be there from [...]
Continue reading about I love Boston but Chicago comes first
You: When someone tells me that they don’t care about an expense because it’s tax-deductible for them, does that mean that the expense is basically free?
Although a tax-deductible charge reduces your taxes, the expense is not free. The tax savings provided by the deduction means the true cost is less than if [...]
Continue reading about Strategy # 18: Deductions aren’t free.
I’ll be on the radio within the hour (about 9:15 ET) on Barry Armstrong’s Money Matter$ out of Boston.
If you don’t live near Boston, you can still listen to our conversation by clicking here and then pressing the listen live button at the top of the page.
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