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This an update for my investment portfolio, including 401(k) plans, IRAs, and taxable brokerage holdings. There have been only a few small changes since my . As always, this is our own personal portfolio and may not necessarily be completely applicable to anyone else.

Asset Allocation – Target vs. Actual

I separate the stock and bond portions for clarity. My remains the same:

Here is my actual stock allocation, where it shows that I am slightly overweight US Total and will need do some light rebalancing.

My actual bonds allocation is not really worth making a chart for… the target is 50%/50% and I have 47% short-term nominal bonds and 53% inflation-protected bonds.

Stocks vs. Bonds Ratio

One way to calibrate your portfolio risk is with the balance of stocks and bonds within your portfolio. A few years ago my stock/bond ratio was 85% stocks/15% bonds, which corresponded to a formula of [Current age - 15]% in bonds. After the stock market plunge in 2009, I felt like I had to keep my stock portion high. Sin

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It is very important to do some research and learn about student loans before signing up for one.  Knowing the definitions of the terms used and understanding the conditions of the loan will help you choose the correct loan for your needs.  Signing a long term financial product that you do not fully understand is a recipe for disaster.

A student loan is an expensive financial product.  Depending on the school the student is attending and the length of time they are in school, the eventual cost of the loan can be more than $30,000, not including interest charges and loan fees.  Many of the people searching for student loans do not have much financial knowledge because they are fresh out of high school or focused their employment in other areas to take care of their families.  Unfortunately, this means that many people make the wrong decisions about what student loan to sign up for through ignorance.

T he amount of money that will be needed to complete your chosen course of study should be the first thing considered when deciding on a student loan product.  You do not want to have multiple loans with different repayment dates because it increases the chances of triggering fees and penalties for missed payments.  The amount borrowed should take into consideration all of the expenses the borrower will have while they are pursuing higher education, including tuition, books, meals, housing, and incidentals, along with the amount of money contributed by family members or the student’s employment.

It is important to remember that every dollar borrowed using a student loan will incur interest, dramatically increasing the amount to be repaid to the lender.  Different lenders will offer different interest rates for the student loans they extend, so it may be beneficial to obtain several different quotes to see which lender has the best student loan rates.  A difference of a single percentage point in the interest rate for the loan can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

The repayment terms of the loan are something else that should be considered before deciding which lender to sign with.  Some student loans have generous repayment terms that give the student plenty of time after graduating to find a job before beginning to repay the loan.  Other loans have terms that dictate a different time period for repayment that may pressure the student into accepting any employment position offered so that they will not default on the loan.  Attempting to pay off the student loan as quickly as possible will save you money in interest charges and be reflected positively in your credit history.

These days, no matter what job you have, or what industry you work in, you have to always remain aware that your job is not guaranteed. Years ago, people entered an industry, and as long as they kept their noses clean they could more or less presume that they would have a job for life. Unfortunately, over the years, plenty of things have happened to mean that life is just not like that any more. More and more people are constantly on the lookout for an improved position, and also more and more people get laid off, normally through redundancy.

Redundancy can be a good thing for some people. If you have been working for a company for fifteen or twenty years, you may find that your potential redundancy pay off is quite large, given that most redundancy payments are based on the number of years served. That being said, as you would imagine, if you have only just got the position, or if you have only worked there for a year or two, it is not going to be worth much more than a week or two’s wages to you.

In this situation it is important that you are covered for this sort of eventuality. Read more…

You may or may not believe me, but even though I blog daily about money I only check my investment portfolio balances every few weeks. It’s part of my selective information restriction diet. I found it curious that the S&P 500 is now at ~1350. This reminded me of this earlier about how long-term savers actually haven’t done all that poorly over the last decide. Their example is a young worker starting investing in 2000, investing regularly, and taking advantage of the 401(k) match from their employer amongst other stated assumptions:

Since the article was published, the S&P 500 is up nearly another 8%. Of course, if you invested in bonds for that decade you’d be even better off, but seriously who was 100% bonds the entire time. I know I wasn’t, but I was invested in some bonds, so I get some comfort that my personal return is a bit better. I’m relatively at peace with my investments, other than being a bit nervous after seeing the S&P so high without any proof of improved economic stability.

There is no greater personal finance challenge than getting oneself out of credit card debt. Many people are taken by the ease of paying with plastic and quickly lose track of their spending. Others build credit card debt after being faced with a loss of income or unexpected medical bills. If you have taken on debt, or foresee the likelihood of doing so, what you need is a credit card that offers 0% introductory rate on balance transfers and purchases for the longest possible period. The Citi Diamond Preferred Card fits that bill, with an industry leading 0% APR for 21 months.

The Citi Diamond Preferred card’s 21 month 0% APR is remarkably long.  The only other card with the same 0% duration is the Citi Platinum Card.  For balance transfers, a fee of  3% of the amount transferred is charged. This

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Scott Burns of Assetbuilder has a new article that your portfolio beyond the often-cited S&P 500 index fund that you probably have in your 401(k) plan. During the recent financial crisis, nearly every asset class involving stocks crashed. Large cap stocks, small cap stocks, REITs, international stocks.

From January 2000 to December 2009, the total return (not annualized) of the S&P 500 was negative 9.67%. That means money that you invested in the S&P 500 in 2000 was worth about 10% less an entire decade later. This is the so-called “lost decade” that numerous media articles have focused on.

Well, if you’ve been following this blog since 2004 or many other similar ones, you would have also read about research and historical data that advises you to diversify your investments across some other asset classes. Here

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is an antiquated, somewhat-arbitrary, poorly constructed, incomplete indicator that does a subpar job of tracking the actual performance of the U.S. stock market. There, I said it. Every time I see it mentioned in the financial media down to the decimal points like it’s some hyper-accurate holy number, I get a bit annoyed.

A recent BusinessWeek article served as another reminder of why I feel this way. Whether or not you like Apple, it’s the second largest company by market value in the country. Is it in the Dow Jones? Nope. Why not?

The Dow only includes 30 stocks, picked by WSJ editors. In 1896, the DJIA had 12 stocks. In 1916, it grew to 20. In 1928, it increased again to 30. It’s still just 30 stocks over 80 years later. Not only that, but it’s not even clearly defined as the largest 30 companies or something like that. It’s simply 30 companies chosen by a committee to best represent the market out of the ~5,800 publicly traded companies out there. As a resu

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Chase isn’t merely trying to improve their reward credit cards; they are on a mission to offer the best rewards cards available. Based on what they’ve done with the Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom cards, it is safe to say that they are succeeding.

Recent changes to the Amazon.com Visa Card provide a great example of how Chase is not only making credit card rewards better, but also more user friendly. As of June 23rd, current and future Amazon.com Visa cardholders can now use Shop with Points. Shop with Points provides consumers the opportunity to redeem points at checkout. This feature not only makes using reward points easier, but also removes one of the most frustrating elements of typical reward programs:  minimum redemption amounts.

Unlike nearly all rewards cards, there is no minimum number of points required to make a redemption. Thus, a cardholder who has collected only 500 points doesn’t need to keep spending to gain access to the rewards they’ve earned; they can redeem those points for $5 off their next purchase, put the difference on their Amazon card and earn 3 points for every dollar they spend on the remaining balance. No other

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