High-Speed Traders Profit at Expense of Ordinary Investors, a Study Says

By NATHANIEL POPPER and CHRISTOPHER LEONARD

Published: December 3, 2012

A top government economist has concluded that the high-speed trading firms that have come to dominate the nation’s financial markets are taking significant profits from traditional investors.

Read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/business/high-speed-trades-hurt-investors-a-study-says.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&

The 100 Things I've Learned in Investing

Some excellent advice from Anand Chokkavelu, CFA

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/06/29/the-100-things-ive-learned-in-investing.aspx#.T_q242jDldw

If you only read one point, read the first one! "1. Most of this list is dedicated to insight on beating the market, but know this: It's darn hard to beat the market. Ninety-nine percent of people are best served steadily buying and holding low-cost index funds at the core of their portfolios -- and I may be understating that 99% figure."

Sorry, Facebook Investors: It's Mostly Your Fault

Stop me if you've heard this one.

Thousands of largely novice investors line up for what's been billed as "the opportunity of a lifetime" to buy a "can't-miss" investment destined for easy gains. Pundits take position and say it's worth buying at "any price." People whisper in anticipation over how much they'll make. Fifty percent? Double their money? More?

In the end, the floor drops out and they're left with hefty losses -- totally predictable losses. Furious investors want answers. What went wrong, they ask? The answer is usually complicated, but has a common denominator: You overpaid. Fell for the hype. Gambled and lost. It happens.

This could explain the dot-com bubble or the housing collapse. But it also sums up what's happened to Facebook (Nasdaq: FB  ) over the last few days.

 Read more: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/05/24/sorry-facebook-investors-its-mostly-your-fault-.aspx

WORLD BANK BOSS: We're Headed For "Impending Catastrophe" -- "A Rerun Of Great Panic Of 2008"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/world-bank-boss-impending-catastrophe-a-rerun-of-great-panic-of-2008-2012-6#ixzz1wgfhXu3V

The head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, is about to step down after a 5-year term.

That means he can say what he really thinks.

The Correlation Conundrum and What to Do About It: With the rise in correlations, diversification is more important than ever

The Correlation Conundrum and What to Do About It: With the rise in correlations, diversification is more important than ever

Over the past two decades, the amount of equity assets invested passively has increased from roughly 10% in 1993 to about 30% today. At the same time, correlations between individual stocks have generally risen. Let’s take the S&P 500 as an example: Based on the average daily correlation over the trailing six months, correlations have risen from roughly 10% in 1994 to 66% at the end of 2011

The Hour Glass Economy

While global diversification is important, America remains the largest economy on the planet. So, how do you successfully invest in the USA?

This article offers some insights into America's "hour glass economy".

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/04/09/corporations-plan-for-post-middle-class-america/

Some Helpful Tips if You are Just Starting Out

Morningstar has some suggestions for investing newcomers looking for diversification, especially if you don't have a lot of money to get started.

http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/article.aspx?articleid=102876&categoryid=5&refsource=newsletter

Ten Commandments of ETF Investing

What began as a handful of securities seeking to replicate widely-known stock and bond indexes has grown into a lineup of more than 1,000 funds, offering exposure to nearly every asset class, region, and investment strategy imaginable. While this impressive growth has enhanced the arsenal of securities available to ETF investors, it has also created the potential for misuse and made finding the right ticker symbol a bit more challenging.

And while ETFs offer countless potential advantages relative to strategies that revolve around mutual funds and individual stocks, there are some potential pitfalls along path to enhanced cost and tax efficiency. Below, we offer up ten pieces of advice that will help to maximize the benefits of exchange-traded products for all types of investors, including tips on minimizing expenses, avoiding potential pitfalls, and picking the right fund for your portfolio.

How to Pick the Right Mutual Funds

We recently covered the why and how of purchasing a mutual fund, but you were probably left wondering what exactly you should be looking for when choosing which funds to buy. It’s a great question and can often be a daunting one for a beginning investor. In reality, it’s relatively easy to research and find good mutual funds. Once you’ve done it a few times, you may actually begin to enjoy the thrill of the hunt!

Financial Investments and Economic Investments...

Rich Republicans want very much to believe that the money they put into 'savings' or 'investments' is doing all kinds of wonderful things for the economy.  Unfortunately, this belief is based on little more than wishful thinking.  To understand why they are so very wrong, people need to understand the difference between financial investments and economic investments.

Forbes Investment Guide 2011

As a new year dawns, investors are heaving sighs of relief. A semblance of sanity has crept back into world financial markets. At home stocks posted 10% gains through mid-November 2010. Bonds did nearly as well. Is this the new normal— with little of the panic that prevailed in late 2008 or of the euphoria that chased it the following year? What 2011 has in store nobody can say. However it turns out, this Investment Guide offers strategies aimed at helping you increase your wealth, protect it, stretch it into retirement and pass it on to loved ones, or to worthy causes, in ways that will continue doing good for generations to come.

Global investing trap: Economic growth as red herring

First of a three-part series on misconceptions about international investing.

It seems a simple proposition: If you had a choice between investing in a country with an economy that promises rapid growth, or investing in one with flat or stagnant growth—such as the two economies depicted in the chart showing gross domestic product (GDP) growth —which would you choose?

As First Boomers Retire, Many Facing Personal Finance Disasters

 

		As First Boomers Retire, Many Facing Personal Finance Disasters
	Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire....

 

Index Investing - DIY Vs Hiring an Investment Advisor

By George Watkins

On the surface, index investing seems like a perfect fit for do-it-yourself investors. The simplistic buy-hold-rebalance mantra of index fund proponents combined with the abundance of help from investing authors and online forums leads scores of informed investors to take on the task of personal portfolio management each year.

Many DIY investors never look back; they treasure their newfound fiscal autonomy and the challenge of overcoming future financial hurdles. Others, however, discover that they lack the time, interest, knowledge or discipline to successfully negotiate the dangerous DIY terrain, and they ultimately seek help from an investment advisor.

The purpose of this article is to clearly present the rationale for each approach so that index investors can decide which tactic best suits their needs and abilities.

Is Do-It-Yourself Investing Right for You?

 By Mary Rowland

One of the first questions investors ask is this: Should I invest on my own or get the help of a financial planner?

For many investors, the answer is an obvious one. If you receive a large inheritance or divorce or insurance settlement and have no knowledge of the markets, you need help. But what about the rest of us? We know a little bit. We're willing to learn more. We're intrigued by the idea of investing. But will we do a good job?

The Total Cost of ETF Ownership

Expense ratios are just one of the many costs of ETF ownership

The low cost of exchange-traded funds relative to traditional actively managed open end funds and index trackers is perhaps their most appealing feature. When looking at the cost savings of ETFs, and comparing one fund to another, most of us just look at the total expense ratio given in prospectuses and other literature. But expense ratios reflect just one of the many costs of ETF ownership. Costs of buying, selling, and potential hidden charges or earnings all affect the ultimate returns that shareholders get from a given ETF.

I had to laugh...

 Wow. Turn $200 into $10 million in one year! And you'll tell me for free? All you want is my e-mail address...

I laughed when I saw this in my in-box, but actually it's not very funny. There are a lot of people who try to prey on people who just don't know any better or who are in a difficult position and are ready to grasp at straws.

Help educate your family and friends about investing scams. Help them find out about realistic ways to improve their financial situation. And let's put the scammers out of business.

Investopedia: Investing Tutorials - Basics

If you want to learn more about the confusing world of finance you've come to the right spot! We'd love to be your guide on the journey to financial freedom, and it all starts here. The following is our compilation of tutorials on subjects we feel every investor should know and understand. What you learn here will set the foundation for everything in the future.

Read more here:
http://www.investopedia.com/university/buildingblocks.asp

Is "Buy and Hold" really the way to go?

...But if there are no legitimate public winning strategies, if instead it's a fair market and everyone has the same opportunity for success, how can some people become multimillionaires while others lose their money? That can't be because of chance, can it?

Well, as a matter of fact, yes, investment success can and does result from pure chance, and stories of investment success are much more likely to result from chance than genius.

Because everyone is trying to outwit everyone else in unpredictable ways, the stock market is much more a random process than a moral drama with predictable winners and losers. But even though the market doesn't (and cannot) reward investment ingenuity, it does pay attention to chance factors.


Read the full article here:
http://arachnoid.com/randomness/index.html#Investment_Genius

In Striking Shift, Small Investors Flee Stock Market

"According to the Investment Company Institute, which surveys 4,000 households annually, the appetite for stock market risk among American investors of all ages has been declining steadily since it peaked around 2001, and the change is most pronounced in the under-35 age group."

Wow. That's bad... If you can help it, DO NOT pull your money out (unless you are close to retirement). If you are young, you are missing a great opportunity. You know how they say "buy low, sell high"? Well, when do you think that "low" time is?

Read the full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/business/22invest.html?_r=1&ref=business