The student loan industry is a giant scam if you ask me. Parents and students alike don’t realize the slanted arrangement they are about to take on when applying for these loans. Society places such a strong emphasis on education (for good reason) that the education industry and especially the lenders behind it stand to benefit tremendously.
Financial ‘Life’ Planning
A Discussion about Independent vs. Wire House Brokers
As you may have imagined, the past few months have been stressful not just for individual investors but for financial advisors as well. Many advisors get paid a percentage of the assets they manage so when asset prices cheapen, as they have recently, it indicates pay cuts for advisors, portfolio managers, insurance professionals, etc.
New Retirement Plan Rules & Regulations Kicking In
The Labor Department has finally decided to increase disclosure requirements by retirement plan service providers regarding compensation arrangements and other potential conflicts of interest. In a nutshell, service providers of all types will be required by DOL regulation 408(b)(2) to have a written agreement which clearly elaborates on the various compensation arrangements within the plan which ultimately get paid by plan participants.
Making Sense of Bond Yields
Has Hank Paulson Been A Good Treasury Secretary?
Obama and Taxes: What We Can Expect
Whether or not you liked George Bush, his budgets over the past four years have consistently called for more tax cuts and extensions for expiring tax provisions which would otherwise hike taxes. Last year, Bush extended the lower marginal tax rates on ordinary income and the preferential rates on capital gains and dividend income.
The Best Buying Opportunity in History?
As many of my clients and readers already know, life as a money manager has been immensely stressful over the past few months. It isn’t that my clients have lost an amount of money beyond recovery, or that my business model has failed: it’s more a feeling of defeat not just as an investor in the market but as a passionate advocate of the free market system.
About Russell
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Last week Nancy Pelosi announced that the completed version of the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is now available on the House of Representatives website. I spent a few hours reading through the bill and would like to highlight what I think are the most important parts.
It’s Not a Bailout — It’s a Government Investment They Say
I’ve been hesitant to offer my opinion about the proposed $700B bailout package since the news pertaining to that plan is ongoing and constantly changing. But now that rumors are flying and I’ve had clients call in to ‘blame this on Bush’ and to complain that it dumps a massive debt directly on the heads of taxpayers, I feel the need to spell out some truth as I understand it and perhaps some more realistic scenarios.
How Do I Pick Mutual Funds?
A good financial advisor will try to explain concepts in such a way that their clients can really grasp the knowledge. As obvious as that may sound, many people who work with financial advisors do not learn much about how to make financial decisions, they merely pay to have those decisions made for them.