Insights

For years, providers of 401(k) plans have charged the plans they manage fees based on assets. They love to do that because it causes their fees to grow automatically. As long as participants continue to contribute out of each paycheck, as long as companies put in...

Because a 401(k) plan has participants making their own decisions on how much to save and what to invest in, and because many, if not most, participants don't really know the answer to either question, education is required. A prudent plan sponsor will provide this....

How are you doing on saving for the 20+ years you will likely spend in retirement without a paycheck? On this website, www.CornerstoneInvestment.com, on the Links page, you'll find a link to the AARP retirement calculator. This is a very easy to use retirement...

Europe has been overall a terrible place to invest for the last several years. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) that I use as a proxy for European stock markets overall is lower than it was at the end of 2009, well over 5 years ago, and is still roughly 30% lower...

Sounds like heresy, yes? Don't today's historically low interest rates allow more people to buy houses and cars and to finance other types of spending as well? Well, yes, that is true, but only to a point. It has a short-term impact as consumers lower their mortgage...

The biggest economic story of the last year is the collapse in the price of oil, both in the U.S. and worldwide. Last summer oil was selling for $106/barrel and Goldman Sach's foreccast was for $150. In 2008 it had been nearly $150. Today it was as low as $44 and...

The stock market had a good year in 2014, at least the medium and large U.S. stocks did. However, international stocks over the last 12 months dropped -6.7%, US small stocks were up only 3.5% and the Barclays US Govt/Corp [bond] trust returned just 3%. Now, at the end...

If you've been paying attention at all lately, you know that gasoline prices are down substantially this year. While overall the prices of gasoline and oil are only partially related, in this case, they are very closely related. Prices for West Texas Intermediate...

U.S. citizens enjoy the privilege of affecting their government and choosing their leaders, something many, many people around the world can only wish for. Don't ignore this privilege and responsibility. When people with good morals and high convictions don't vote,...

The stock market is finally going through a downturn after roughly two years of almost straight-line growth, at least in the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrials. Small and mid-szie stocks and international stocks are already well in negative numbers for the...