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Searching for the Next Stock Market Bubble

February 15, 2013

After being burned by tech stocks in the late 1990s and real estate and stocks again in the first decade of the 2000s, investors are trying to be alert for bubbles. This post argues that the way to spot a bubble is to follow the quantitative analysts and investors. He thinks he’s found the next […]

Does Warren Buffett Like Variable Annuities?

February 13, 2013

Berkshire-Hathaway, Buffett’s investment vehicle, recently entered into a deal with the insurer Cigna to reinsure some variable annuity guarantees of Cigna. No doubt this will be viewed as Buffett entering the annuity, especially the variable annuity, market and be used as a sales tool for variable annuities. Don’t fall for that line. There are a […]

A Few Words Against Investing in Gold

February 8, 2013

Gold investors generally give several reasons why they like the yellow metal. A new research report by a couple of serious researchers casts doubt on those reasons. Claude Erb, formerly of TCW, and Campbell Harvey, professor at Duke, took the five reasons people generally give for owning gold and tested gold’s historic performance against them. […]

Understanding Stock Market Returns

February 5, 2013

I don’t spend much attention to discussions in the financial media of stock market returns, especially forecasts of them. They’re so misbegotten it is almost comically. On those occasions when I find a good discussion of equity returns, I refer it to you. This piece from PIMCO explains how the fund firm analyses equity returns […]

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The Real Retirement Planning Problem

February 4, 2013

Our focus most of the time is on the financial aspects of retirement and planning for it. But there’s an ultimate goal involved. Yes, we want financial security and freedom. But the ultimate goal is to be happy or satisfied. That’s why periodically I report on surveys of people’s happiness and what makes people happy. […]

Maximizing Spouses’ Social Security Benefits

February 1, 2013

Most people make the wrong decisions about their Social Security benefits and in doing so leave a lot of money on the table. Married couples have the most flexibility and options. When a couple coordinates their Social Security retirement benefits, they increase by tens of thousands of dollars the amount of lifetime income they receive. […]

estate planning

Estate Planning for Your Legacy

February 1, 2013

There are no more excuses for procrastination and delay. The estate and gift tax law finally is set. There are no more temporary or expiring pro-visions or transition periods. People no longer can say they don’t want to incur the cost of Estate Planning that might have to be re-written in a few months because […]

Estate Planning

Don’t Overlook Filing Gift Tax Returns for Your Estate Planning

February 1, 2013

You might need to file a gift tax return for your Estate Planning, even when no taxes are due. It might seem like a technicality, but the IRS penalizes people for not filing returns even when no tax was due. It’s been searching public records in some states, such as real estate title records, and […]

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