If you are wondering how to find a financial advisor, you’re not alone as the process can be challenging. The industry has long lacked consistent standards, and anyone can call themself a financial advisor. To… Read More
In-Service Distributions from Your TSP Account
When it comes to understanding your TSP withdrawal options, it is useful to differentiate between taking a withdrawal while you are still a Federal employee versus after you have separated from service. We have covered… Read More
Attribution Analysis – Assessing Investment Decisions
If you want to improve your investment decisions, you need to quantify the impact of those decisions. That’s where attribution analysis comes in.
How are your Investments Doing – Benchmarking Portfolio Performance
Recently a client asked how his portfolio was doing, and my answer was that he was doing well because the portfolio return over the last decade was above the return target he had established in… Read More
What Investment Diversification Really Means
In my experience, nearly every investor knows that having a diversified portfolio is something they should do. Diversification, investors understand, helps reduce risk. But there is less knowledge around what diversification actually means. I’ve heard… Read More
Thinking About Risk
When it comes to our own personal financial plans, we tend to think of risk as a bad thing. You avoid things that are risky, and the safer a plan is, the better. But risk… Read More
Confirmation Bias: A Shortcut in the Wrong Direction
Years ago, one of the first courses I took in college was introduction to cognition, or the science of human thought. A key concept that stuck with me long after the course, was the idea… Read More
Market Movements: Shifting Focus from the Unknowable
Early on in my career, clients would ask where I thought the market was headed, and I felt obliged to answer these questions on market movements. Valuations were high, I would explain, or I might… Read More
Investment Management: Questions to Ask About Your Portfolio
I attended a conference on communications a few weeks ago run by Dimensional Fund Advisors. Dimensional, or DFA as they are known, has an interesting story. They were founded by academics, including a few Nobel… Read More
Understanding An Advisor’s Investment Track Record
If you’re considering working with a financial advisor, at some point, you’ll probably discuss the advisor’s investment track record. Most advisors aren’t going to offer a public track record of how they’ve done because unlike… Read More