Third Quarter 2021|Jim Williams| This is a brief revisit of some basics of personal finance. Consider this cash flow paradigm: Income, less taxes, less consumption equals investment. A different statement of the formula is that money from income can only go one of three places: taxes, consumption, or savings/investment. This is not higher math. It is arithmetic. Let's examine the elements of the formula.
Second Quarter 2021|Jim Williams| We have heard and seen a good bit about inflation lately. A modest general inflation rate is mostly seen as a stabilizing force in the economy and is likely a consequence of an ever-increasing money supply which may be necessary to accommodate an ever-growing economy. As the economy emerges from the effects of lockdowns and restrictions, the economic damages caused by those actions are becoming manifest.
Dimensional Co-CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Gerard O'Reilly, offers an update on the performance of value stocks relative to growth stocks across the global markets, addressing the theory and data supporting a positive value premium over longer periods of time and recent premiums in the context of last year's (2020) market downturn.
With the U.S. presidential election called, and promising news of a COVID-19 vaccine announced, a U.S. market surge reminds us how keen investors are for a sense of closure. That said, who knows how long the mood will last? Come what may between the U.S. presidential election just ended and the inauguration yet to occur, the results will undoubtedly be attention-grabbing and action-paced. To counter all the excitement, we offer three calming insights.
In a recent piece, we explored how to invest available cash: Should you invest it all right away as a lump sum? Or are you better off wading in more gradually with dollar-cost averaging? In round one, we discussed why lump-sum investing is generally expected to generate the highest returns over time. That said, general rules don't always apply to you. Let’s look at when dollar-cost averaging may be preferred after all.
Good news – you have an extra $24,000, and you’ve decided to invest it in the stock market. It’s always nice to have investable cash on hand. But you also might feel as if the pressure is on. Nobody enjoys seeing the market take a dive shortly after they jump in. Unfortunately, we never know when it might do exactly that. What's an investor to do?