Term Life Insurance Made Easy
Posted on November 27, 2007 - Filed Under Money | Leave a Comment
What is Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance is the least expensive life insurance product available. As the name implies, Term insurance is insurance that is purchased for a particular “term” or length of time. This term can be as short as one year and as long as twenty years. Once the term ends, so does the life insurance coverage.
Types of Term Insurance
There are three main types of term insurance. They are:
Annual Renewable Term (ART):
As the name suggests, this insurance policy is for one year at a time. Every year you renew the policy, the annual premium goes up because as you get older you become more likely to die. This type of policy is while very inexpensive when you are in your 20’s, becomes very expensive as you get older. Thus it is most commonly bought by individuals in their 20’s and 30’s.
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Stock Market Commentary - November 25
Posted on November 24, 2007 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
“Odds are, we are already in a bear market,”
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank
“People are buying and selling off the headlines. The market is so emotional. You look at oil approaching $100. People are taking their money and going to the sidelines.”
Neil Hennessy, president and portfolio manager of Hennessy Funds.
“There is a camp out there that the Fed will really cut rates when Dec. 11 rolls around, and that helped us bounce from the session lows,” he said. “If that does come, it will provide some stability to the market. Because of that, there’s some bargain-hunting as people are trying to find that stability.”
Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist with Oaktree Asset Management,
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Why You Need Disability Insurance
Posted on November 22, 2007 - Filed Under Money | Leave a Comment
Do you have insurance on your car? On your home? On your biggest asset? Most people fail to insure their biggest asset. Themselves. Your unlimited earning potential makes you by far the biggest asset you have. Is your biggest asset insured?
It is the ability to earn an income that makes you such a valuable asset. When thinking about insurance, most people think only of life insurance. What I am talking about here, is protecting your ability to earn an income, not providing for your family in case you die. Disability income insurance (DI) protects your ability to earn a living.
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Understanding Wills
Posted on November 20, 2007 - Filed Under Money | Leave a Comment
Our own immortality is something that most of us avoid talking or thinking about. But the truth is that we will all die at some point in time and that any assets that we have collected in our lifetime will be distributed to others. A will simply is your written instructions on how you want your assets distributed. Wills typically tell:
- What assets are to be sold, such as real estate or businesses.
- To whom remaining assets are to be given, including family heirlooms and items of sentimental value as well as financial assets.
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Is it time to buy bank stocks?
Posted on November 20, 2007 - Filed Under Investing, Stocks | Leave a Comment
Last week Barrons has a whole page dedicated to why Citigroup was a good long-term buy at its current level. Part of the reason for Barron’s bullish position was that Citigroup now sells for just seven times cash flow and eight times estimated 2008 earnings.
After writing off $11 billion in bad loans Barron’s believes that Citigroup is a good long-term bet and that while the stock might fall a bit further it could got to $60 within a few years.
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Stock Market Commentary - November 18
Posted on November 18, 2007 - Filed Under Commentary, Investing | Leave a Comment
Every week we look at what Wall Street analysts and investors are saying about the economy and the financial markets.
“We are going through a period of reassessing risk and that will take time and we will experience volatility along the way. In discussions on the decline in the U.S. housing market, I noted it is still unfolding and I view it as the most significant current risk to our economy”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
“Investors better got to a drugstore and get a neck brace”
Ed Yardeni, investment strategist on the stock market volatility
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Buying Into A Bond Fund
Posted on November 15, 2007 - Filed Under Investing, Mutual Funds | Leave a Comment
In the first section of this article we looked at the different types of individual bonds and how an investor can purchase them. In this post we will look at how a bond mutual fund works and explain why an investor might choose a bond mutual fund rather than invest in individual bonds.
Bond funds versus individual bonds.
Like stock mutual funds, a bond fund pools money from many investors and uses the money to buy securities that meet the funds stated investment objectives and policies. The decisions to buy and sell individual bonds are made by a professional portfolio manager.
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Is Gold Overvalued?
Posted on November 14, 2007 - Filed Under Investing, Money | Leave a Comment
Gold has enjoyed a tremendous run-up recently, up over 24% in the last six months alone. As the chart on the right shows most of that gains have occurred in the last 3 months. At this level, is gold undervalued or overvalued?
Well Richard Russell, who publishes the Dow Theory Letters earlier this week was commenting on this quote by W.D. Gann. Mr. Gann is considered by many professionals to have been one of the greatest commodity and stock traders of all time.
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Buying Individual Bonds
Posted on November 13, 2007 - Filed Under Bonds, Investing | 2 Comments
Bond’s are a valuable but overlooked component of a successful portfolio. Although the stock market attracts more attention from the financial media, for some investors who are a little uncomfortable with the rarefied levels of the stock market, bonds and bond funds can offer piece of mind and the potential for a pretty good rate of return also.
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Turning Pennies Into Dollars
Posted on November 8, 2007 - Filed Under Money | Leave a Comment
One of the hardest things to do at times is to save money.We all know we should, but at the end of the month their always seems to be something else that we need that is more important than our savings. The savings plan outlines below is a way for you take advantage of two keys to successful investing, regularity and longevity, by turning your pennies into dollars without radically changing your lifestyle.
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