Category Archives: Financial planning
University tuition sprints way ahead of expectations
We’ve written a few times about college tuition and the Washington Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) savings program. An interesting follow-up note to the 2011-12 spike in the price of GET units comes from GET director Betty Lochner. In the January … Continue reading
The deleveraging divergence
Back in 2008 when it entered our vocabulary, The Economist called deleveraging “a fate worse than debt.” The process of reducing leverage — borrowed money — from personal, corporate and governmental finances is expected to take several years, if not … Continue reading
Returns of diversified investment portfolios – the mirror effect
Modern Portfolio Theory suggests that diversified investment mixes over time should generate the lowest returns with more conservative allocations to stocks and the highest returns using higher allocations to stocks. Allocations with nearly equal weightings between stocks and bonds should … Continue reading
Savers double up without reward
An addendum to Gary’s News Tribune column from January 6. Cash equivalents may be zombie investments but investors still favor them. TrimTabs, a tracker of cash flows to bank and investment accounts released information January 13 demonstrating that Americans deposited … Continue reading
Get rid of paper money to fix the economy … ?
Could you operate your financial life without cash in your wallet? Some people already get by without cash, using credit or debit cards for most transactions or even swiping their iPhone to debit an electronic account. Matthew Yglesias, Slate’s business … Continue reading
U.S. pension plans underfunded by $450 billion
Imagine if you knew you owed a dollar to your friend but you didn’t have to pay it back for 10 years. Using the time value of money, you could assume an interest rate and then invest some amount (say … Continue reading
2012 tax changes and contribution limits
EMPLOYER RETIREMENT PLANS Participants in employer retirement plans such as 401ks and 403bs will be able to contribute an extra $500 as the limit moves up to $17,000 in 2012. Catch-up contributions, allowed above the $17,000 level for people over … Continue reading
Student loan relief likely will lead to even higher tuition
File this in the unintended consequences folder. President Obama’s October 26 announcement of student loan reforms to “ease the burden” of education debt may provide relief to some but could ultimately cause the damaging pace of tuition inflation to increase … Continue reading →