Bought The VWO and BND Vanguard ETFs Last Week
April 29, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
I am really starting to like the Vanguard ETFs, almost as much as I like their mutual funds. They have really low expense ratios, they perform spot-on to the indexes they track, and they track sectors and indexes that I really like. In my rollover IRA, I have invested all in exchange traded funds, because for some reason, I thought it would be smart to throw my 401k money in Sharebuilder, because they have low fees, and they allow you to buy portions of shares of securities. Little did I know that they only sell ING mutual funds, so I was pissed about that.
Earth Day Is Every Day!
April 22, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing, Spending and Saving
Happy Earth Day. I always liked those old commercials that had the slogan, “Earth day is every day!”. It’s such a true statement, but I also don’t like when environmental extremists try to run my life. It seems like the environmental movement has spun out of control, and soon they will be taxing me every time I pass gas. They have already proposed taxing cow farts, so I am assuming we will be targeted next.
A Good Article About Leveraged ETFs
April 15, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
Some of you might track certan ETFs from ProShares, Direxion, and other big ETF families that offer leveraged funds with increased performance. For instance, the FAS fund tracks the financials sector index at three times the normal rate due to leveraging. So, if the financial sector gaines 5% on the day, FAS will gain around 15 percent. However, the key word here is on the DAY. These leveraged ETFs are not meant to be held for long-term investing, and some amateur investors don’t realize that.
Read more from the Kiplinger article.
An Update On My Battered Market Sector ETF Strategy
April 2, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
A few weeks ago, I wrote this article about my experiment with some battered market sector exchange traded funds in my rollover IRA.
Current Performance
So far, it has been right on pace with the S&P 500. It dropped about 7% in February, then it rose about 20% in March. They are doing well, but in this market anything can happen. I am confident that financials, real estate, and energy sectors will rebound at some point, and when they do, this retirement account will flourish. We are also going to open an IRA with Vanguard. We’ll pump more money into this account and invest in balanced growth mutual funds, bonds, and dividend appreciation funds.
Organize Your Savings With The ING Direct Orange Savings Account
April 1, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Banking, Investing, Spending and Saving, Taxes
Many other bloggers have written about how to set up sub-savings accounts with ING Direct’s Orange savings account, so I won’t go into a huge tutorial about how to do it. Recently, I decided it would be a good idea for us to start categorizing our short-term savings. Lately, we have simply thrown money into the account, and used it for whatever short-term savings goals we had. However, I know there were some times that we used it for things that we didn’t plan on using it for a few months prior. ING Direct has a cool feature in their Orange savings accounts. You can set up as many sub savings accounts as you want. Here’s a quick run-down on how to do it:
Frequently Asked Questions About Investing During A Recession
March 25, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing, Taxes
Here are some questions that I frequently get emails about and questions I hear from friends and family.
Should I cash out my 401(k)?
This depends on your age. If you are in your 20’s, 30’s, or 40’s, there’s no reason to jump ship on your 401(k) or IRA. You have plenty of time to recover from the losses. If you are in your 50’s or early 60’s, you may want to consider going to a very conservative position with your investments such as bond exchange traded funds or mutual funds.
Should I invest in gold right now?
Should You Start Investing In Gold and Commodities?
March 20, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
This week was another very significant week of business and financial news. The Federal Reserve announced they would print up to $1.2 trillion dollars into buying up treasury bills and mortgage-backed securities. More money printing means more worries about mass inflation. The dollar took a sharp hit the next day valued against the Euro and British pound. Many of you are worried about your retirement accounts and investment portfolios with good reasons. You don’t need to act like the country is crumbling, but you should start thinking about your investment choices based on your age and risk tolerance.
The ETF’s In My Rollover IRA
March 13, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
Back in October, I left my day job to help my wife pursue a career as a physician assistant in childhood neurosurgery. We moved to Orlando, and even though I worked out of my house, I had a specific territory that I covered as a claims adjuster, and I was unable to transfer to the Orlando area. So when I left, I transferred my beaten down 401(k) money, which lost about 35% in 3 months, to ING’s rollover IRA through Sharebuilder. I liked the dollar-cost averaging investment incentives that Sharebuilder offered, but I did not do enough research about what products they offered to purchase through their brokerage firm. They only offer ING mutual funds, which discouraged me. So, I started looking into ETFs.
What Will Be Your Investing Strategy For 2009?
December 23, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Investing
We all had a rough year with the stock market, and we all know how much money our 401(k) and IRA lost this past year. We’ve also seen our home values drop, and we’ve watched our friends and family go through painful foreclosures. So, where do we invest our money? CD’s? The banks are going out of business. Money markets and bonds? Sure, if you want your money to rot. Stick it under your mattress? Hopefully, you won’t stick it under your mattress, but I have a feeling that some of you are contemplating it!
What I Will Be Doing
How Much Did Your 401(k) Lose This Year?
December 18, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under FAQs, Investing
I don’t like to dwell on the past, but I was curious how much you all lost in your 401(k) this year. Obviously, this is personal information, so you can share with us the percentage lost rather than an actual dollar amount. My money was pulled out at the end of October, because I left the company that held my 401(k). I decided to roll it into an IRA, rather than keep it there. Just in September and October, my account lost about 30 to 35% of its value! That’s pretty depressing, but I found solace in the fact that much of that money was matched contributions from my company.
