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Americans Face Serious Risk for Outliving Their Retirement Savings
(ARA) - As Baby Boomers creep ever closer to their golden years, they face unprecedented challenges to their future financial security. Retirement nest eggs have eroded considerably since the equity bubble burst on the bull market of the 1990s....
HOW THE INSIDERS HAVE STOLEN YOUR RETIREMENT: THE 401(K)!
Mutual funds were moderately successful in creating a presence in the stock market until the advent of the investment retirement account and in particular the 401(k). Corporate insiders persuaded the federal government to allow for the 401(k) in...
Index investing - Going by the numbers
The Dow, the NASDAQ, the S&P 500 – these are stock indexes, company structures that keep track of the values of listed stocks and enable brokers and others to trade in them. Index investing involves holding a portfolio of stocks or a mutual fund...
Top Investments and Stock Picks for 2006
If you read the headlines today you will hear everything from
recession, decline, slow start, etc... Everyone is commenting on
losses or very marginal gains. Yet there are some investors like
me that did really well in the last few years and are...
Understanding 401k Plans
What is a 401(k) plan?
The 401(k) retirement plan is funded by employee contribution
and a matching employer contribution. The major feature of the
plan is that the contributions are taken from pre-taxed salary.
The fund accumulates...
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Where to invest your money
If you are new to investing, or even if you've been playing the market for a while, investment options can be overwhelming. Stocks, bonds, mutual funds. How do you pick the best place to invest your money? That's quite a decision!
Here are some tips that can help you get started:
If you are planning for a long-term investment, it may be wisest to go with stocks. History shows that stocks outperform other investing options over the long term. For example, from 1926 to 2004, the stock market had an average annual gain of 10.4%, compared with only 5.4% for bonds and even less for other forms of investing.
That said, stocks may not be such a good option for short-term investing. They tend to be more risky and can undergo severe losses. Unless you're planning to keep your money there for a long time, you might not want to weather the stress of the stock market's ups and downs. Overall, a company's earnings are going to be the biggest player in a stock's fluctuation.
If you're willing to take a little bit of risk with your investing-or a lot-you probably will notice a bigger payoff. Stocks, for example, are a riskier investment than bonds. But again, stocks tend to bring in a
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much higher return. On the other hand, there is also the chance that your stock will dip and you may suffer a great loss. That's all part of the game.
If you're looking for a low-risk, surefire investment strategy, U.S. Treasury bonds may be the way to go. The government has a lot of power over these bonds. Because of this, investing in these bonds is generally considered risk-free. Keep in mind, however, that bonds don't do so well when interest rates rise. Conversely, when interest rates go down, bond prices rise. This is particularly true with long-term bonds.
To be safe, the best advice is to diversify your portfolio. If you practice investing in a number of different areas, you are least likely to lose it all. (Remember the Enron scandal? Don't make that mistake!) Some investments will go up, others will go down. But at least you can be pretty sure you won't lose it all. Chances are, with a little research, some self-education, and careful investing, you'll build your savings substantially. Happy investing!
Jeff Lakie is the founder of Investing Information a website providing information on Investing
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