We are now nine years into the current bull market, and the S&P 500 has risen over 300% from its March 2009 low.
Unfortunately, there are some investors that have been left behind. They sold their stock in 2007-2008 and never got fully back into the stock market. For example, a reader on the Bogleheads forum recently posted this question:
“I have had about $450k sitting in cash for too …
So you missed the bull market. What can you do now?
In the past, investors had to pay an actively-managed mutual fund to manage their money. The average actively-managed mutual fund charges about 1% of assets under management. Hedge funds typically charge 2% of assets and 20% of profits. And the worst of the worst mutual funds charge up to 3% or 4% of assets. Now, index funds can give you a diversified portfolio for less than 0.1%.
One of the easiest and high-yield ways …
Physicians: Are you paying attention to your mutual fund fees?
There are a lot of competing goals when you first get out of residency.
You have hundreds of thousands of student loans to pay off.
You need to build up your investment accounts, which lag far behind your college classmates who have been working for the past decade.
You need to save up for a down payment for your dream home.
If you have kids, you need to begin saving for their college educations.
And of course, you’ve been living like …
Pay down student loans or invest: What should doctors do?
Many physicians don’t want to think too hard about investing. There are a lot more fun things to do in life than worry about the minutiae of index funds.
One of the best investments for beginner investors are target-date funds. It’s a great way to get started with investing, while you learn more about the principles of asset allocation.
But there are literally hundreds of target-date funds available. How do you pick …
Pick the right target-date mutual fund. Here’s how.
We can control most of the variables that will affect our financial futures. We can control our income by choosing to work more hours or in a less desirable location. We can control our spending by buying a smaller house or a less nice car.
However, one thing that we cannot fully control is our investment returns. And the problem is that our investment returns can …
How stock market volatility can affect your retirement planning
The primary benefit of municipal bonds compared with other bonds is that the interest earned is typically exempt from federal income taxes. In general, income from municipal bonds is also exempt from state income taxes if you live in the state where the bond is issued.
Calculating the equivalent return of municipal bonds
Municipal bonds will typically have lower returns than an equally risky corporate or government bond. However, the interest on corporate and …
Should physicians invest in municipal bonds?
Life insurance is one of the key foundations of a good financial plan. In this article, we will discuss the basics of life insurance.
Why life insurance?
While you might feel invincible and 100% healthy, as physicians we all know patients or colleagues who were diagnosed with terminal cancer or died suddenly because of an accident or health condition.
If someone is dependent on your income (usually your spouse or children), then life …
A physician’s guide to life insurance
The decision to retire is a difficult one for anyone, including physicians.
However, with everyone’s investment accounts so flush with money because of the bull market, a lot of physicians younger than the traditional retirement age of 65 have enough money to retire early. Some have chosen to do so; others have chosen to continue to work even though they are financially ready for retirement.
So what …
When should physicians retire?
Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 late last year. Americans and corporations are feverishly reading news summaries of the bill, trying to figure out how the new bill will affect their taxes.
In this post, I will summarize the major provisions of the bills as they apply to medical residents and fellows. I’ll then go through three case scenarios to see how the tax bill might …
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: What does it mean for medical residents?
When you browse finance-related websites, it doesn’t take long for you to see ads that claim that they can help you make money, fast.
“I’VE BEEN ABLE TO WIN ON 90% OF MY TRADES WITH THIS PROVEN STRATEGY.” – TYPICAL AD #1
“LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO EARN 25% RETURNS, GUARANTEED.” – TYPICAL AD #2
“SIGN UP FOR MY NEWSLETTER AND I’LL SHARE WITH YOU THREE STOCKS THAT ARE READY TO EXPLODE.” …
Why published trading strategies rarely work
You’ve probably heard of the Starbucks latte effect.
As the theory goes, small changes, multiplied and compounded over time, can end up becoming big savings.
For example, if you drink 1 Starbucks latte for $3.50 every day for 250 work days a year, then over 10 years, you’ll have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Starbucks coffee. Cut the Starbucks coffee from your life, and you could buy a nice car …
Should you give up your Starbucks latte?
A common question from readers is what to do about an account that contains a bunch of high expense ratio mutual funds or individual stocks.
The reason for having such an account varies from person to person. Maybe it was the only funds available to them in their 401(k) portfolios. Perhaps they collected a bunch of individual stocks and actively-managed mutual funds over the years based on tips from magazines or …
What to do if you have high expense ratio mutual funds
Many of us take for granted that we should be paying next to nothing for our index funds.
Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab offer great index funds with very low expense ratios.
But there are many other providers of index funds. And unfortunately, they do not charge the low expense ratios we have come to expect from Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab.
Interactive Brokers and no transaction fee index …
Watch the expense ratios: Not all index mutual funds are cheap
Most people’s monthly spending is a series of recurring payments, like rent, food, and utilities. There are also some one-time purchases that might require a few months of saving, like a nice vacation or a new suit.
And then there are some things that require many months or years of savings.
An engagement ring. A wedding. A new car. A down payment on a house.
When saving for big purchases, how do you …
So you want to make a big purchase. How do you save for it?
In an era of increasing transparency in medicine, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been publishing data annually on payments to individual physicians since 2014. The database, officially called the Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data: Physician and Other Supplier Public Use File, has been a window (albeit a cracked and opaque window) into the practice patterns and reimbursement of individual physicians.
It includes most payments for services …
Compare your own practice patterns to the national average. Here’s how.
D.J. is a 55 year-old woman with recently diagnosed early-stage left-sided breast cancer. She just had a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, and now has to decide whether to undergo chemotherapy after surgery. Her oncologist carefully discusses the clinical and pathologic data about her tumor, in terms D.J. can understand. She discusses the risks, benefits, and side effects of chemotherapy, and recommends treatment. D.J., having learned about the risks and …
Doctors need to become informed physician investors
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