August 2014 - NorthStar Capital Advisors

Credit Card Comparison Sites are NOT unbiased

If you google “credit card comparison” you’ll get a long list of review websites. These sites purportedly provide an objective, unbiased analysis for consumers looking for a good credit card. But if you dig into the fine print, you’ll discovered that very often lenders pay to advertise on those sites! If fact, credit card providers take a heavy hand in dictating how their cards show up on these sites.

These six websites’ credit card comparison tools show only cards from lenders that pay to advertise:

Credit.com
CreditDonkey.com
CreditSeasame.com
FindTheBest.com
Mint.com
MyRatePlan.com

Many others show mostly advertiser cards and those credit cards receive preferential treatment.

Usually, the card-comparison sites get paid only if consumers start the card application process on the site and the lender approves them for a card.

Buyer (or credit card carrier) be ware!

Source: WSJ

75% of Americans get the Most Important Investing Question WRONG

Powerful observation from Vox.com regarding public perception versus reality when it comes to how to best invest your money:

Which of the following do you think is the best long-term investment?

Real Estate
Gold
Stocks/Mutual Funds
Savings Account

Don’t feel bad if you didn’t get the answer right. You’re in good company.

Recently, Gallup asked Americans what they thought their best investment bet was over the long run. 24 percent of Americans named stocks and mutual funds — but the same share named gold, and even more (30 percent) named real estate. The trend lines are actually positive, as in 2011 a baffling 34 percent of Americans named gold as their top pick:

There’s a right answer here — and it’s one that about two thirds of respondents who answered the question got wrong. If history is any guide, stocks are the best bet in the long run, and gold and real estate certainly are not.

Source: Vox.com

Student Debt Linked to Worse Health and Less Wealth

The negative effects of student debt are significant and persistent according to a new Gallop poll. Those who borrowed more than $25,000 are less likely to enjoy work and are less financially and physically fit than their debt-free peers even 24 years after graduation.

Gallop examined five elements of well-being:

Purpose: liking what you do each day and being motivated to achieve your goals
Social: having supportive relationships and love in your life
Financial: managing your economic life to reduce stress and increase security
Community: liking where you live, feeling safe, and having pride in your community
Physical: having good health and enough energy to get things done daily

Financial and physical well-being show the strongest relationship with student debt. Conversely, social well-being appears to have the weakest debt link.

“These results offer a new dimension of how college debt affects the rest of your life and it gives us more cause for concern,” said Brandon Busteed, executive director of Gallup Education.

Source: Gallup

Annual Asset Class Returns

The table below ranks the best to worst investment returns by asset class over the past 15 years. CLICK IT FOR A CLOSER LOOK
Great chart from Novelinvestor:

The chart shows several issues investors struggle with all the time. It’s difficult to pick the best performing investment year after year, yet for many investors it’s an annual event. They look for an encore, picking the best asset class last year with the hope of a repeat performance. Yet, betting on last year’s winner rarely works out.

Assets at the top of the chart one year could be at the bottom the next, and vice versa. Much of this is due to reversion to the mean. But over the long-term, those big swings even out. The chart shows annual returns for eight asset classes against a diversified portfolio. Diversification works to smooth out those big swings in the short-term. While you’ll never get the biggest gains of any year, you avoid the huge losses.

Credit Card Comparison Sites are NOT unbiased

75% of Americans get the Most Important Investing Question WRONG

Student Debt Linked to Worse Health and Less Wealth

Annual Asset Class Returns

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