By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY With college education for six kids and their own retirement to pay for, Amy and Kevin Smith of Pleasant Hill, Calif., need help stretching their dollars beyond routine bill-paying. Kevin Smith, 35, earns $60,000 as an information technology systems administrator…
Morningstar Influence Grows; Some Concerns Remain By Arden Dale Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK — Morningstar Inc. (MORN) casts a long shadow over the mutual-fund industry. Founded in 1984, the Chicago investment-research firm went public in May and has been growing by leaps and…
By ARDEN DALE Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Exchange-traded funds have exploded in popularity, but for many investors these investments remain something of a mystery. Like traditional funds, ETFs hold baskets of securities and other investments. Rather than get priced once-a-day like a…
Dave appears on NPR’s Morning Edition, discussing the risks of underdiversifying your 401(k).
By Jim Christie SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Home-ownership in California has increased to a level not seen since 1960 but it is coming at a high cost and risk for home buyers, according to a study released on Thursday. To keep up with…
Janet Kidd Stewart As we learn more about what makes investors tick, will it move them? Calling on financial advisers to take a closer accounting of how investors’ mental errors can roil markets and personal portfolios, AllianceBernstein Capital Management Chairman Lewis Sanders recently devoted his…
By ELIZABETH HARRIS (NYT) 1098 words BOND index funds have been catching on, and for good reasons. Like stock index funds, they have cheaper fees, more transparent holdings and higher average annual returns, over time, than the vast majority of actively managed funds in their…
By Stacy Perman What can the superstar do to repair his balance sheet? Ax some luxuries, focus on asset protection, and cash in on his talent, experts say What kind of financial advice can help a 46-year-old with questionable career prospects and huge debts on…
By BARBARA KIVIAT While folks financing a house or carrying loads of credit-card debt are mourning the end of the lowest interest rates in 46 years, savers who have been stressing over paltry yields on cash investments are partying in response to the Fed’s quarter-point…
Ulysses Torassa, Chronicle Staff Writer Making extra payments against your mortgage is a time-tested way to pay off your house early and can save an enormous amount of interest over the life of a typical home loan. With 80 to 90 percent of initial mortgage…