Despite All-Time High 15,000 Dow, Fewer U.S. Adults Invested in Stocks

What is Inflation - Can Bonds Help

I’m in stocks. If you are too, odds are your neighbor isn’t. An annual survey produced by Gallup revealed that just 52% of U.S. adults own stocks. This is the lowest percentage ever reported by Gallup, who began tracking this in 1998. To put this in perspective, U.S. adults have never participated in the stock [...]

Google Investing in Lending Club, Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform

How Peer to Peer Lending Works at Lending Club

Maybe it’s time for you to try investing through Lending Club? Google, the search engine (and everything else) we all know and love, just purchased a minority share (less than 7%) of LendingClub Corp. They made the purchase from current investors along with Foundation Capital for a total purchase price of $125 Million. The purchase [...]

Help the Earth and Your Bottom Line with Green Investing

Green Investing

Editor’s Note: Since it’s Earth Day we thought we’d look at what’s new with Green Investing. Here’s Emily… When I recently met with my financial advisor to discuss exactly where to invest the retirement accounts I would be rolling over. I told him I was uncomfortable investing in big oil. My poor advisor took a [...]

How to Retire Early – Let’s Run the Numbers

How to Retire Early

While I have not retired early (yet), I do believe I understand the basic concept of how to retire early and so I’m going to share my beliefs with you. I welcome your thoughts in the comments below. Whether you want to retire at 35, 45, 55, 65, or 75, when you break it down [...]

Personal Capital – Your Money, Their Investments

personal capital

At the ripe ole’ age of 10, I was given the task of having to invest $50,000 into stocks I thought would be winners.  This was part of a county wide contest where each elementary school was represented; and one student selected to make the purchases (fake money of course).  After 30 days, you could [...]

Kiva and the New Kiva Zip Helping Entrepreneurs from Little Rock to Kenya

Kiva Zip Choose a Borrower

The word entrepreneur conjures up a very specific image in our minds: a go-getter type with an excellent idea, a great deal of passion, and access to enormous funds to get their dream off the ground. Unfortunately, for many would-be entrepreneurs in America and the developing world, it’s the access to money that is the [...]

Don’t Be Average – Increasing 401K Contributions and Other Ways to Boost Retirement Savings

401K Contributions Boost Retirement Savings (1)

It’s one of my dirty little secrets: I am both a personal finance blogger and the daughter of a prominent financial planner, and yet my retirement savings are nowhere near where they should be. It gets worse. Until I was about 27, I actually had no retirement savings, other than some money my exasperated father [...]

The JOBS Act and Crowdfunding: New Investment Opportunities for the Average Joe

The JOBS Act and Crowdfunding - Invest in the Next Pinterest

What comes to mind when you think about investing? I tend to think about my 401K, my house, early retirement, funds, and maybe the occasional stock pick. That’s my world. Pretty boring. I’m sure yours is quite similar. In the grand scheme of things boring is just fine, but what if when you thought about [...]

Traditional and Roth IRA Contribution Limits Increased by $500 for 2013

traditional roth ira contribution limits

The 2013 IRA contribution limits finally went up due to inflation compared to last year. Inflation is bad, but getting to contribute more to your retirement is good. Traditional IRA and Roth IRA These Individual Retirement Arrangements or Accounts (IRAs) were created to provide a tax incentive to save for your own retirement. They are [...]

Can I Contribute to Both Accounts and is the Limit Shared?

Multiple Retirement Accounts

Super, over-achieving savers often run into questions about their ability to contribute to multiple tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Here’s a recent question from a reader: I have a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA. I make under $50K a year. According to your article I need to split the $5,000 max contribution amount between those accounts [...]

Quick Money Tips: Smart Investing Tips to Secure Your Retirement

Smart Investing Tips

In today’s edition, we look at several smart investing tips. Investing for your retirement isn’t complicated. I love simplified investing tips and I’ve included several in today’s roundup. But there are some unique situations, like giving investments or adding annuities to your portfolio, that might add a bit of complexity to a very small portion [...]

Why Athletes Go Broke – Review of Broke, an ESPN Films Documentary

Broke 30 for 30 Logo

This past weekend I was hanging with some friends who like to talk sports and all they could talk about was the latest film in ESPN Films’ 30 for 30 series. This particular film is called Broke, and it’s all about why a majority of professional athletes face financial troubles so quickly after retiring. Last [...]