Easy Change

Its nearly April 15th and I have not yet begun to procrastinate about finishing my taxes. In short, I need to get it done this weekend in order to make sure that I get it done on time. Otherwise, we'll be in big trouble. I've been working on figuring out whether or not there is anything that I can do to make it easier for the next time, but I think that the most obvious thing I can do is stay more organized. This particular year there were a bunch of things that were out of sorts: 1. Lost my W-2 and had to get it replaced. 2. Didn't get an appointment with an accountant early. 3. Wasn't sure whether or not I was going to be eligible to contribute to a Roth, and out of panic, took the money out. Then it turned out I was fine, and I should have left the money in! What an utter waste! For next year, I will make some changes to make this process easier next time around. 1. I will avoid the roth entirely so I don't worry about the eligibility issues. 2. I will make sure ...

One of the things that I really like about the internet is the ability to connect to organizations and efforts that are often halfway across the world. One major thing that I have noticed as a change in my life has been when I got a dog this year. He is less than a year old and was purchased at an AKC breeder so that I felt confident in his genetics etc. However, that does not mean that I am heartless and don't understand the importance of rescue for animals. In fact, one such organization came across my inbox today and I thought they were worth donating to since they were handling such a difficult situation. There are many dog rescue organizations, but this one really stuck out for me because it is the same breed as the one I own and also because the sheer volume really is staggering. Here are some links for the organization; please donate if you are able. I am sure they need every penny they can get. http://www.facebook.com/HomewardBoundPugs http://homewardboundpugs.chipin.com/32...

This morning I watched WealthTrack with Matt Mclellan, who is now running several First Eagle funds, including the global funds which has some amazing records for the trailing periods. He provided some new ideas that were very compelling for me...but the main idea that I like was this: The real risk is not investing because there are no real risk free assets. This, simply put, is that with the real inflation numbers taken into account, preservation of capital is impossible, Mclellan states, unless you invest. Put simply, the challenge and fear for most individual investors is that there is entirely too much volatility in the markets. Looking at a good overall measure of volatility in the market, the VIX as a component of certain ETNs, you can look at this as an example: http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSEARCA%3AVXX In the end, McLellan argues, you must construct your portfolio from good individual businesses.

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...