Obviously, what you invest in can mean the difference between getting rich and losing your shirt. But where you place those investments can be even more important -- especially if you end up picking winners.
You%u2019ve heard it so often you can probably repeat it in your sleep: Equities are the best protection against inflation. But academic research establishes clearly that it just isn't so: Stocks aren't a good hedge against inflation at all, particularly high inflation.
Is the U.S. tax code designed to be confusing? At more than 70,000 pages, its complexity is hard to overstate. But forget its size: Even in its most basic terms, the IRS seems determined to muddy the waters. To help you out, we've unpacked a few of the most weaselly weasel words.
With 2011 fast coming to a close, it's time to think about what's next -- if you dare. We've got the good news, the bad news, the key points to watch and some good advice on getting through 2012 with your finances intact.
From my point of view, we are about to be in heaps of trouble economically, so for 2012, I'm looking to exploit other people's woes like the good capitalist I am. Here are three bets I might pull the trigger on:
Ask the people who invest billions for a living to name their favorite picks for 2012 and you'll get a smorgasbord worthy of a holiday party: Brazilian stocks, U.S. junk bonds, and government debt from Colombia. Ask them what they dislike and they'll name one of the top-performing investments this year: U.S. government bonds.
With all the volatility in the stock market today, some individual investors are wondering if they should be more active with a portion of their portfolio, or back away from equities entirely. But if you bail out of stocks, where can you find decent returns? DailyFinance's Laura Rowley talks with Stuart Ritter, financial planner with T. Rowe Price.
The U.S. stock market's recent gyrations have many investors ready to look overseas for better returns. But it's a complicated world out there, which is why many less-experienced investors are still sitting on the global sidelines. Here's what you need to know make investing in emerging markets a little less scary.
U.S. municipalities have filed five bankruptcies this year, and -- next week -- Jefferson County, Ala., could make a sixth. Could city and county defaults shake the muni-bond market just as investors are fleeing to it amid stock-market declines?
Amid plenty of uncertainty, investors are looking for strategies that will make them wealthy. But you should forget about the idea of getting rich quick and focus on diversity, according to Larry Light, author of the new book, Taming the Beast: Wall Street's Imperfect Answers to Making Money.
Investors and officials in Jefferson County, Ala., are trying to negotiate a deal to avoid bankruptcy by Thursday's deadline. If they're unsuccessful, the county could end up with the largest Chapter 9 filing in U.S. history, which could rattle the $2.9 trillion municipal bond market.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has sued the estate of money manager Joel David Salinas, the president of J. David Financial who died last month, and Brian Bjork, chief investment officer of Select Asset Management, for allegedly selling $50 million of fake bonds.
Bond investors have had to make huge sacrifices in recent years. With rock-bottom interest rates, Treasuries pay so little that they're hardly worth investing in. In comparison, corporate offerings look attractive -- at least in a relative sense.
Fear is in the air on Wall Street. Unemployment is high, housing sales are sluggish and the dollar is weak. Now, to add insult to injury, Standard & Poor's has lowered its U.S. debt outlook to negative, putting the nation's AAA credit rating at risk. Fortunately, smart traders can benefit from these worries.
After respected banking analyst Meredith Whitney rattled the municipal bond market with her prediction of hundreds of billions of dollars in muni defaults, small investors dumped the bonds. That dire prediction may yet come true, but there are a few types of munis that still carry virtually no risk.