Easy Change

As you might have noticed, I left a mutual fund ticker as a teaser at the end of my one of my earlier posts: DFSAX. This ticker is a mutual fund that is managed in part by Andrew Lo, a renowned MIT professor which is designed as a multi-strategy mutual fund. Multi-strategy funds exist as a mechanism to reduce the overall risk in the market by hedging. Hedging/Multi-Strategy funds allow more freedom within the fund to choose different investments. According to Google, these are the top 10 holdings of the fund as of 1/22/2012: Top 10 holdings Security Net Assets German Euro Schatz Futures Dec11 Xeur 8.25% 10yr Japan Govt Bond Ftrs Tse Dec11 Xtks 7.50% 3yr Australian Tbond Futures Dec11 Xsfe 4.22% 10yr Us Treasury Note Futures Mar12 Xcbt 3.41% German Euro Bund Futures Dec11 Xeur 2.81% Uk Long Gilt Bond Futures Mar12 Xlif 2.76% German Euro Bobl Futures Dec11 Xeur 2.28% Msci Taiwan Index Futures Dec11 Xses 1.10% 10yr Govt Of Canada Bond Ftrs Mar12 Xmon 1.04% As...

This morning I tuned in to Consuelo Mack Wealthtrack. It is one of my favorite shows to listen to with respect to personal finance, but more tuned in on the investing side. I think that the subject matter is quite fascinating, although not as titillating as say the Suze Orman show (which I also happen to like). On this week's show, Consuelo interviewed Phil DeMuth, author of the little book on alternative investments. I found that this was a very interesting author and he seemed like a down-to-earth kind of guy, which is a nice, refreshing change compared to many guests that appear on the show who sometimes seem like they are a little bit divorced from the plight of everyman. Her other guest was John Hathaway, founder of the Tocqueville Gold Fund. During an interesting interchange, there was a comparison of a large sum of gold versus an equal amount of the assets of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, and the preference seemed to be Berkshire for Phil. However, John Hathaway wa...

In this, the great recession that we're slowly (arguably) coming out of, I have realized that there is quite a bit of opportunity for us to learn about ways to make better lives for ourselves by leveraging new movements and ideas (some of which are really just re-made ideas from the past). Two ideas that are really worth considering, in my opinion, is the idea of "timebanking" and "CSA". Both of these ideas were covered as part of a documentary that aired on "Now On PBS" titled "Fixing The Future". While these were only two of the ideas covered, I think it is a good short documentary that gives some hope to the somewhat difficult mess that we're in as a society. The first idea that might help us is the idea of "timebanking". Timebanking is a system whereby you donate your hours into a shared pool with lots of local members and then are able to get a comprable portion of time from someone else. This is sold as an item that builds...

Recently I was browsing an internet message board ( Net Worth IQ) and I realized that for the rest of my life I will find personal finance fascinating because so many people have so many different outlooks and perspectives. One person's recent question was essentially: Should I Keep Saving since it doesn't add much to my Net Worth as a percentage of the total? My response is as follows: I think that the real thing you're driving at is whether or not you've reached "critical mass". Bob Brinker uses this term to indicate the tipping point where your investment "dividends" are putting enough out in order to do two things: 1. Generate enough income for you to live your current lifestyle 2. Put out additional income on top of #1 such that the total principal grows enough to keep up with or ahead of inflation. The main point here is that you should keep putting the 1k in each month -- not because you think it will up your net worth by 1, 10, or 50%, but b...

So, this past weekend I was looking at funny pictures. I highly recommend the site PetsWhoWantToKillThemselves.Com . It had me giggling all day as I kept thinking about some of the photos on there. At any rate, over the course of the day, I determined that there was some sort of virus, malware, or rootkit installed and my AVG Anti-Virus started going haywire. Wanting to take no chances, I quickly backed up my files and decided it was time to wipe out my computer. Of course, it is always tempting to try to salvage it to avoid doing crazy reinstalls of everything, but I decided that in this case it would be better to just go for broke. Being an IT guy, I was able to do it myself, but it totally took the whole day, even though there was no real issue or crisis to it. It just takes a really long time. And one thing it made me realize is that I should get back into doing that more often because the money was decent compared to the amount of effort it took.

Being debt free is sexy. There. I said it. Nothing is more attractive than someone who has their financial house in order. It often indicates this person is self confident, has drive and motivation,and most importantly, knows how to execute. Who doesn't want to be with someone who knows how to execute? All that being said, what is the best thing that we can do in terms of reviewing the debt reduction strategy for Christmas. The first, and it bears repeating is that you should reduce spending on Christmas and avoid putting anything on credit cards. The next two ideas are more novel and could really help with your debt reduction. 1. When you are asked what you want for Christmas say you want some help paying off some debt. Give you friend/relative the address and account number of the bill and have him/her pay an amount equal to your gift. Some might think this is tacky or smells like a hand out but I disagree. This is admitting you need help and directing resources someone wants to ...

So, with the past week there was a big financial change -- a new puppy. So far it has already run over 1500 dollars and there are many more bills to come. To say that it was expensive is a huge understatement; to say that it was totally worth it, is completely true. For those interested in getting a dog, be aware of the expenses involved with the amount of vet bills and things of that nature. Even the preventative medicine is not cheap. On average, the expenses run about 30 dollars per month for a total of 360 dollars yearly, not even including the vet bill, accessories, food etc. In general, it makes sense to budget about 100 dollars monthly for the dog, and that is what I plan on doing. As for the enjoyment and exercise and zest for life that it brings, I don't know if there is a price you can really put on it. And that was something that I really didn't understand until this week.