July 2007

Beginner’s Guide to Asset Allocation: Actively Managed vs. Index Mutual Funds

July 24, 2007

Question: Which is better, actively managed mutual funds or passively managed index funds? Answer: Yes. Little else will heat up a discussion among mutual fund investors than the question of whether actively managed mutual funds or index mutual funds are best. This question is not strictly a matter of asset allocation, but it’s such a [...]

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Carnival of Personal Finance #110

July 23, 2007

The Carnival of Personal Finance, 110th Edition is now available at Fat Pitch Financials. My article on the Myth of Zero Down Real Estate Investing was included in the carnival. Thanks, Fat Pitch! Here are some other articles from the carnival that I thought were particularly interesting: The Value of Having an Emergency Fund @ [...]

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Using a Rented Nikon Lens in Guatemala

July 21, 2007

We’re back from Guatemala! It was a wonderful trip. Before we left, I wrote about an $1,800 Nikon lens that I rented for the trip for $210. It turns out the lens (70-200 F2.8) is spectacular. Here is the lens, and as promised, here are some of the pictures I took using the lens. Let [...]

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The Myth of Zero-Down Real Estate Investing

July 20, 2007

“No Money Down!” You hear this all the time from infomercials and cheesy real estate books trying to convince us that we can make millions in real estate without making a down payment. To good to be true? Of course. I recently bought my fourth single family rental home. Here are the details about the [...]

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Using the Morningstar Mutual Fund Screener Tool

July 17, 2007

The Morningstar User’s Guide is a series of articles discussing how to make the best use of the tools, research and analysis available at Morningstar.com. There are literally thousands of mutual funds out there. Finding the funds that are right for you often seems like searching for a needle in a haystack. Fortunately, Morningstar has [...]

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The Illusion of Control

July 16, 2007

I was in the bookstore the other day flipping through Why We Want You to be Rich: Two Men – One Message, a book by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. In the book, Kiyosak’s major theme (he and The Donald write separate sections) is control. Basically, real estate moguls and business owners have control, while [...]

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What Job (not Steve, think the Bible) Can Teach Us About Fear & Money

July 15, 2007

I love the story of Job. The book of Job in the Bible is considered by many to be the oldest book in the Bible. It is the story of a man who lost his family, his health, and his wealth, but not his faith. It is the story of man who had wealth, but [...]

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Teaching Kids about Money in Chi-Chi Castenango, Guatemala

July 14, 2007

Hello, from Guatemala! My family and I have been traveling through Guatemala for the past week and have several more days to go. One town we visited was Chi-Chi Castenango, which is a wonderful town with lots of street shopping. This gave my kids a great opportunity to learn about money and bargaining. They had [...]

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REIT–Real Estate Investment Trusts

July 14, 2007

REITs are an important asset class for a diversified portfolio of mutual fund investments. A REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), as the name suggests, invests in real estate. This article will describe these investments, why they are an important consideration as you build your portfolio of investments, and some of the REIT mutual funds and [...]

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