Overconfidence Games: Beware of Advisers Who Are 100% Certain
It's tempting to want a financial adviser who sounds sure of his advice. But a new study shows how being overconfident lets them get away more easily with being wrong.
investment advice
5 Signs That Your Investment Adviser Is Scamming You
The financial management industry is rife with opportunities for fraud and theft. If you suspect that your adviser may be scamming you, here are five signs to look for.
Year-End Review: Five 401(k) Must-Dos Before 2013
The end of the year is fast approaching, so you've only got a few days left to make changes to your 401(k) for 2012. These five tips will help you make the most of that limited time, and put you on track in your efforts to make your golden years as comfortable as possible.
Beware This Rookie Investing Mistake That Anyone Can Make
Financial adviser Nicole Seghetti has seen the same money-management mistakes time and time again, and one of the most common is among the most basic: having too much money in a single investment. But there's far more than one way to end up in that position.
Painless Investing: Why a New Generation Will Dive Into Stocks
Many Americans have been spooked out of the stock market by Great Recession and its aftermath. But despite their apprehensions, the children of the baby boomers are actually eager to jump into stocks -- primarily because they weren't burned personally by the crash.
Municipal Bonds Aren't Just for the Rich Anymore
This income investment has become more attractive recently. Yet because it's perceived as being strictly for the wealthy, many ordinary Americans never think twice about it.
Eastman Kodak: This Stock Is Probably Going to Zero
In the wake of Eastman Kodak's bankruptcy filing, some speculators will be tempted in the coming days to nibble on the company's battered shares. But if you know what's good for your portfolio, you'll stay away.
The 5 Dow Stocks Every Dividend Lover Should Own
Millions of investors have discovered how profitable dividend stocks can be, and it's not hard to find great companies for your dividend portfolio. Here are the five Dow stocks that best combine high dividends with a consistent track record of gains.
Why Even the Wealthiest 1% Are Fed Up With Wall Street
The Occupy Wall Street crowd has plenty of reasons to complain about how the big financial institutions treat Main Street America. But you'll be shocked to find out how poorly the masters of the investment world treat their richest clients. Multimillionaire and ex-CEO Al Checchi pulls back the curtain.
Michael Moore's Money Advice Will Leave You Poorer
Filmmaker and political gadfly Michael Moore has joined the Occupy Wall Street movement, and his tirades against corporate greed, bailouts for bankers, unemployment are all mostly accurate and on point -- but when he says "the 99%" should stay out of the markets, he's giving terrible financial advice.
Is There an Enron SItting In Your Portfolio?
Enron may be the most infamous, but it's just one of many instances of financial chicanery in recent corporate history. Examples of such shenanigans are rich, ripe, and recurring, right up to the present.
Charles Schwab's Fatherly Advice: Have a Passion for What You Do -- and Diversify
Discount brokerage king Charles Schwab never actually sat daughter Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz down for a talk about the financial birds and the bees when she was a youngster. But she managed to to pick up his philosophy, passion and advocacy along the way to her own investing career.
What Are the Winning Sectors to Invest in Now?
During the first quarter, it seemed cyclical companies would rule the roost in 2011. How things have changed! Defensive stocks have come roaring back. Oil is well off its highs, and growth estimates are coming down in the U.S. and China. In that context, how do you want to position your portfolio?
Three Old Reliable Stocks to Buy for the Long Haul
The short-term investors may account for most of the daily trading volume in stock markets, but slow and steady usually wins the investment race. The trick is to identify stocks likely to perform well over a period of years -- or even decades. Here are three strong options.
Can Motley Fool's Stock Picker Tap Wisdom of Crowds?
Popular investing site The Motley Fool has patented a system it believes can predict stock performance. Called Motley Fool CAPS, it taps the collective brainpower of more than 170,000 investors. Based on its performance over the past five years, it appears to work. But can it really?
Is It Time to Dump Your Financial Adviser?
Your investment adviser is an important partner in your life -- after all, who knows your intimate financial details better? It's an intensely personal, yet professional, relationship. Here's what to do when you discover that it's not an ideal marriage.
Treasury TIPS: A Looming Disaster for Small Investors
Hoping to add some safety against inflation to their portfolios, many folks have been investing in Treasury inflation-protected securities -- TIPS. So now that inflation is on the horizon, they should be sitting pretty, right? Unfortunately not. Here's why.
Is Gold a Bubble About to Pop? These Charts Say No
Some are convinced the precious metal will keep rising, others that it's tracing out a classic speculative bubble that's ready to burst. Nobody has a crystal ball, but an "agnostic" technical analysis of the charts provides some good clues about gold's future.
10 Rules of the Most Successful Amateur Investors
If 80% of professional fund managers underperform the market, how can individuals like you hope to succeed? In a new book, Matthew Schifrin of Forbes hunted down 10 of the best-performing mini-Buffetts over the past decade to get their secrets.
The Top 10 Growth Industries for 2011
After the long downturn, the coming year will be an opportunity for many industries to rejuvenate themselves. Independent researcher IBISWorld sorted through data on 711 U.S.-based industries to come up with these predictions of the 10 best.
A Dying Banker's Investment Guide Could Fetch Big Bucks
With time running out, Gordon Murray, who was diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer, crafted some commonsense advice on financial planning and asset allocation. The ex-Lehman exec's book, co-written with former tennis champ Dan Goldie, may attract a seven-figure advance.
Investors, Here's What Not to Buy: The Pundits' Advice
Investing is a jungle, and most of the so-called experts who get quoted in the media are on the prowl with a simple purpose -- to give you a reason to trade. But they don't know much more than you do, and all their arguments ignore a basic reality: The market is now controlled by short-term traders.
How the Media and Wall Street Create Fake Stock Gurus
The financial media loves to pluck struggling analysts from obscurity and propel them to fame on the backs of a few good calls, then shoot them full of arrows at them when their predictions start to fail. And inevitably, those so-called gurus will fail. Here's why.
How to Protect Your Investments From a Falling Dollar
Investing expert Dan Solin hears this question frequently: It's obvious the dollar is going to crash, so what can I do to protect my investments? His answer may surprise you.
Tips for Vetting an Investment Adviser
The Bernie Madoff scandal made lots of people wonder if they'd checked out their brokers or financial advisers thoroughly enough. If you haven't gone through those steps yet, here's where to start.
Going to Cash May Be Riskier Than You Think
When stocks dropped 10% this month, some nervous investors thought about going to cash. But such a move eliminates the potential to ride a recovery and record solid long-term growth.
Six Tests Your Financial Planner Should Pass
A new study finds that too many financial planners tell their clients what the clients want to hear, rather than providing objective advice. Here's how to make sure you don't wind up with a "yes man" as an adviser.
