Barbara Friedberg's Blog: Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, page 11

5 Best Profitability Investor Ratios for Successful Stock Picking

Why are Financial Ratios Important?

By analyzing investor ratios, stock pickers can seek out winning companies for purchase and eliminate the duds. The major investment ratio categories include profitability, valuation, liquidity, and debt. Profitability ratio analysis explains whether the company is making and keeping more money today than in the past. Valuation ratios uncover whether the firm seems to be fairly priced or not. Debt ratios uncover a company’s debt levels and liquidity helps i...

Should I Invest In a Target Date Retirement Fund?

Are Target Date Mutual Funds the Holy Grail for Investors?

Guest contributor; Lawrence J. Russell

Learn all about a TDF and the answer to, “Should I invest in a target date fund?” question.

Target date retirement funds (TDFs) are usually “fund-of-funds” investments, which combine stock, bond, cash, and sometimes other investment asset classes. The target date fund buys stock and bond mutual funds or exchange traded funds in specific proportions, depending upon the final “year”.

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Target Date Funds Pros and Cons

What is a Target Date Fund? 

Are you interested in buying one fund which holds all the stock and bond mutual funds you need? A target date fund (TDF) is like a big box retailer or a shopping mall. At the mall, you can buy everything you need at one destination. In a target date fund, you get all of your investing needs met within one fund.

How the Target Date Retirement Fund Works

A company, such as Vanguard, Fidelity or countless others create a mutual fund or exchange traded fund ...

Marketwatch Lazy Portfolios Drill Down

“Investing should be dull,” according to Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson.  “Investing should be more like watching paint dry or grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas”

Are you interested in a market beating approach with less volatility?

Do you want a set it and forget it investment plan?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you must check out The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch.com, Paul B. Farrell’s Lazy Portfolios and more. 

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Top 3 Tips for Getting a Mortgage – Be Ready to Make Your Real Estate Offer

Take These Steps Before You Buy a Home

So you’re thinking of buying a home—congratulations! Between mortgage payment calculators, reality agreements, and FICO scores, there is a host of information to process as you make your home ownership dreams a reality. Pre-qualifying and understanding the process before getting a mortgage will give you a leg up on the competition, when it comes time to buy a home.

Buying a house is an exciting and nerve-wracking time, but these 3 tips will take the mystery...

Net Present Value Advantages and Disadvantages

Real Life Net Present Value (NPV) Example

While teaching a Corporate Finance class for MBA students at a local university, I was asked a question that underscored importance of the net present value concept. Although NPV might be considered a panacea, there are definitely some pros and cons.

Net present value is a method to put a dollar amount on future cash payments. It’s great if you win the lottery and want to determine whether to choose the lump sum payment or monthly option. Or wh...

Accredited Investor Opportunities

The world of investing is already diverse: all you have to do is build a portfolio with a mix of asset classes, and you’re well on your way to meeting your financial goals… right? Maybe not. There are a multitude of new investment opportunities popping up, including many accredited investor opportunities.

Find out how to become an accredited investor (or qualified investor) and whether these opportunities might be for you.

Going Beyond Passive Investing

Many are content with a “lazy,”...

The Best Lazy Portfolios for Wealth Building

The best lazy portfolio is the one set up in line with your risk tolerance and rebalance regularly. In investing there’s no one right way to invest or manage your portfolio. In fact there are hundreds of different approaches, and probably more.

Consider the active portfolio managers, they all have their own ideas about how to get the highest returns for their particular strategies. Then there are the hedge funds, clamoring for alpha from creative investment strategies. Finally, the market tim...

The Financial Planning Process – Steps to Wealth

How to Manage Money Wisely – The Personal Financial Planning Process

Everyone wants to improve their financial situation, but many people are stuck in the same habits that prevent them from thriving financially. Unfortunately, it’s hard to improve when the same old financial advice is repeated ad nauseum: budget, budget, budget! “What does that look like in my life?” you might wonder. “And aren’t there any other ways to improve my financial life?”

You might wonder, “How to manage your mone...

We’re Talking Millions! 12 Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement – Review

How to Supercharge Your Retirement by Being a Spectacularly Normal InvestorFree copy for teachers and those strapped for cash!

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 ‘We’re Talking Millions! 12 Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement’ by Paul Merriman and Richard Buck is a must read for newbies through retirees!

Inevitably, we reach a time in our lives when we must consider retirement.

Some of us become aware of the inescapable approach of old(er) age early, and some of us are surprised by the grey...