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Tag Archive for mutual funds

What are Mutual Funds and How Do I Invest in Them?

July 18, 2012 / MMD / 12 comments

What holds you back from investing? Is it stocks? Do they scare you to death? If they do, I really don’t blame you. All the “ifs” in the beginning can be overwhelming! Which ones do I pick? Where will I find the right stock metrics and information to tell me? Why do they keep bouncing around in price? How long until I have a heart-attack?

Would you prefer a way to “stick your toe in the water” and not have to deal with such wild fluctuations? If so, then let me introduce you to the world of mutual funds. “What are mutual funds” you ask? Well, for starters, they are where I started when I first invested – long before I ever bought my first shares of individual stock. But even today, after everything else I’ve learned, mutual funds still play a very important role in my investment strategy. Here is your introduction into the world of mutual funds …

Category: Stocks & Investing / Tags: expense ratio, mutual funds, Mutual Funds for Dummies, Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares, Vanguard STAR Fund

What to Do With $1000?

April 11, 2012 / MMD / 33 comments

what to do with $1000 “Dolla-bills, ya’ll!” – Sorry about that gangsta-rap intro, but I’m really excited! I just received the refunded balance for my previous mortgage escrow account. Just slightly over $1,000!

As many of you know, I just completed a mortgage refinance about a month and a half ago. When you switch between the lenders, your old lender refunds any money that you had left over in their escrow account.

So in anticipation of this small windfall, I thought it might be fun to ask the question of what to do with $1000?

Category: Savings & Budgeting / Tags: 529, auto loan, college savings, credit card debt, dividends, IRA, mortgage, mutual funds, refinance, savings, what to do with $1000

Let Curiosity Guide You, But Common Sense Protect You

March 23, 2012 / MMD / 18 comments

One of the biggest challenges to being new to investing is that you simply don’t know where to start. Sure you may start by reading a few magazine articles. But it can be overwhelming when they start talking about things like asset allocation, Index funds, P/E ratios, Large cap, Growth sectors, Valuations, etc. What does all this stuff even mean?

The truth is that you don’t need to know everything about everything to get rich. In fact, I would venture to say that most people don’t. In reality, you really only need two things to get started on your investment journey: Curiosity and Common Sense.

We All Start Somewhere:

No one comes into this world being a financial genius. It is something we learn along the way. And if you feel left behind, don’t worry. You will learn how to be a good investor too. But it is going to take time.

Consider how curiosity led me through my own personal journey:

Category: Philosophy & Motivation / Tags: CD’s, common sense, Curiosity, investing, mutual funds, online savings accounts, Stocks & Investing, Vanguard

A Strategy for Maxing Out Your Retirement Savings

February 3, 2012 / MMD / 15 comments

We all know that we should be saving more money for retirement, but how do you make that happen? How do you go from nothing to maxing out all our tax-advantaged savings options like your employer sponsored retirement plan or individual retirement account (IRA)?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my wife and I have been on this path for sometime. I’m proud to say that we currently have reached the maximum amount allowed for my 401k and for our Roth IRA’s. It wasn’t easy, but looking back I’m sure glad we did it!

So what steps did we take along the way to get to this point? Here is the strategy we used:

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 3: Why I Prefer a Roth IRA

September 6, 2011 / MMD / No comments

Welcome to Part 3 of this series of posts. In Part 1, we introduced the concept of an IRA and defined the differences between a Traditional and a Roth. In Part 2, using an example by Charles Farrell from his book “Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security at Every Stage in Life”, we found that fundamentally both types of funds are the same because they will both yield you the same amount of money after all is said and done. The real advantage is what you believe your tax situation will be later on in life.

However, I told you I would find the twist in this argument and I will present it to you now:

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 2: Which One is Better?

September 5, 2011 / MMD / No comments

In Part 1, we introduced what an IRA is and the differences between a Traditional and a Roth. Although each one has its own unique tax benefits, you were probably left wondering which one is better. In this post, we’ll put some numbers to paper to illustrate what will happen to our money depending on which route we take.

Crunching the Numbers – An Example:

This example comes to us from a truly great book called “Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security at Every Stage in Life” by Charles Farrell. In the chapter on IRA’s, Farrell weighs in his opinion on which type of fund he feels is better:

Category: Retirement / Tags: Charles Farrell, Individual Retirement Account, investing, IRA, mutual funds, retirement, Roth IRA, saving, Stocks & Investing, taxes, Traditional IRA, Your Money Ratios

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 1: The Basics

September 3, 2011 / MMD / No comments

Congratulations if you are investigating, considering, or have already opened an IRA. If you are new to this subject, then this series of posts will be for you. To start, an IRA (Individual Retirement Account) is a special type of financial account that gives you special tax privileges. Although it is typically used for saving towards your retirement, it can serve a variety of purposes and save you a ton of money in taxes.

Tag Archive for mutual funds

What are Mutual Funds and How Do I Invest in Them?

Read more

What to Do With $1000?

Let Curiosity Guide You, But Common Sense Protect You

A Strategy for Maxing Out Your Retirement Savings

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 3: Why I Prefer a Roth IRA

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 2: Which One is Better?

Traditional vs. Roth IRA – Part 1: The Basics

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