Blog - Page 65 of 71 - NorthStar Capital Advisors

Harvard Isn’t Worth It Beyond Mom’s Party Chatter

Saving for our children’s college funds is one of our largest investment goals. But be wary of some of the common misconceptions about the college cost analysis:

Parents often go for the big name university, under the misinformation that the returns will offset the higher costs.
Top university affiliation is NOT always and forever more valuable.
Math or science graduates earn more than students majoring in the humanities.
Not all debt accumulated for college is always a good investment.

Learn more in Amity Shlaes’s article in Bloomberg:

Harvard Isn’t Worth It Beyond Mom’s Party Chatterhttp://bloomberg.comTheir insanity is captured in Andrew Ferguson’s new book, “Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College” (Simon & Schuster). He describes the vanity of a desperate mother at a cocktail party who is dying to announce her daughter’s perfect SAT scores:

SunTrust faces suit over operation of 401(k)

SunTrust, the Atlanta banking giant, is being sued for allegely favoring investment plans operated by SunTrust or its subsidiaries that performed poorly and charged higher fees than plans offered by an independent investment companies
The suit alleges that under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the defendants had a duty to choose investment options for the benefit of employees, not SunTrust.
The suit alleges some of the SunTrust-controlled investment funds charged fees several times higher than comparable funds operated by a prominent third-party investment company.
The suit says SunTrust’s 401(k) plan controls more than $2 billion, and the company could have negotiated better fees with outside firms.
Company officials removed funds not tied to SunTrust on the grounds of poor performance, but the suit says the company didn’t remove SunTrust-affiliated offerings for poor returns.

Read more in J. Scott Trubey’s article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

SunTrust faces suit over operation of 401(k) | ajc.comhttp://www.ajc.com/business/suntrust-faces-suit-over-877525.htmlA SunTrust Banks retiree sued his former employer this week, accusing the company of enriching itself on high fees it charged employees who took part in certain company 401(k) plan investments from 2002 to 2010.

Weekly Market Review ~ Friday, March 18, 2011

Considering the severity of the earthquake/tsunami damage done to Japan on Friday, the downward movement of US stocks on Monday was remarkable, with the Dow shedding only about half a percent. Economists do not expect the fallout from the disaster to significantly affect world markets. On Tuesday, the markets were down heavily in the morning but recovered to finish only about a percent down, as investors gambled that the huge sell-off of the Nikkei Stock Exchange was overblown. On Wednesday, the downturn accelerated as fears of a nuclear disaster in Japan increased. The NASDAQ fell into negative territory for the year. On Thursday, stocks bounced back over a percent, as new claims for unemployment dropped once again. The major indexes rose again on Friday on news of a cease-fire in Libya, with no additional bad news out of Japan.

With all the uncertainty brought on by events in Japan, the downturn this week could have been worse.

[table id=2 /]

Why Do We Have Trouble with Financial Decisions?

The U.S. is in a retirement crisis and our behavior is a key driver. Why do we tend to make poor choices? Academic research is beginning to help us better understand why.

People are financially illiterate since they lack understanding of
simple economic concepts and cannot carry out computations such as computing compound interest, which could cause them to make suboptimal financial decisions.
Impatience or present-bias might explain suboptimal financial decisions. That is, some people persistently choose immediate gratification instead of taking advantage of larger long-term payoffs

This is according to a study published by Dr. Justine Hastings, Dr. Olivia Mitchell, and the Michigan Retirement Research Center at the University of Michigan:
How Financial Literacy and Impatience Shape Retirement Wealth and Investment Behaviors (download here).

University of Michigan Retirement Center

When Your Advisor Can’t Be Trusted

Why is it so difficult to expect that people selling us investment products will put our interests first?
Is the person who gives you advice on your portfolio and retirement account a “registered investment adviser” or a “broker-dealer”?
Ask those giving you investment advice, sales pitches or specific retirement-plan suggestions if they are acting under a fiduciary standard of care.
Insist that advisers offering specific investments inform you of any conflicts of interest related to their recommendations and disclose any commissions, referral fees or other compensation they would receive from selling you a financial product.
Don’t be afraid to be impolite—always ask what an investment will cost, both in commissions and in built-in expenses such as fund expenses.

Read Karen Blumenthal’s article from the Wall Street Journal and be an informed investor:

Getting Going: Should You Trust Your Financial Adviser? - WSJ.com

Getting Going: Should You Trust Your Financial Adviser? http://online.wsj.comRegistered investment advisor or broker-dealer? The distinction is lost on most investors even though the two operate under very different standards.

Weekly Market Review ~ Friday, March 11, 2011

On Monday, a downgrade of Intel coupled with continued concern over rising oil prices sent stocks down nearly a percent. The Dow experienced yet another 100+ point day, this time in the positive direction on Tuesday after Bank of America announced it hopes to increase dividends and buy back shares of its stock. Wednesday marked the two year anniversary of the low point in the recent bear market, with the major indexes changing very little. The S&P 500 has nearly doubled from its March 2009 low. On Thursday, the Dow dipped below 12,000 as it shed nearly 2% on continued Middle East/North Africa fears. The magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan on Friday was not perceived to be a threat to the recovering world economy, as stocks made moderate gains.

Increased volatility marked this week’s trading, with all the major indexes taking a hit.

[table id=1 /]

New York Stock Exchange

E*Trade Settles with North Carolina Investors

North Carolina is the first state to reach a settlement with E*Trade over the misrepresentation of auction-rate securities as safe investments suitable for short-term cash management purposes.

The NC investigation found that E*Trade salesmen had not been properly trained by the company to sell the products and had failed to consistently disclose the risk that, if the auctions failed, clients would not be able to sell their auction rate securities and could be stuck with illiquid investments.

E*Trade to pay $25,000 settlement - CharlotteObserver.com

E*Trade to pay $25,000 settlement http://www.charlotteobserver.comE*Trade Securities will pay a $25,000 civil penalty under a settlement reached with the state over auction rate securities it sold to North Carolina investors.

Dumb Money and How to Avoid It

Wall Street uses the derogatory term “dumb money” in reference to individual investors who repeatedly buy stocks at a high price and sell stocks at a low price.

Adopt a disciplined investment strategy to avoid participating in the dumb money.

When Your Money is the Dumb Money – NYTimes.comhttp://bucks.blogs.nytimes.comBy now you have probably heard about the growing evidence that “dumb money” is entering the market. The dumb money is not my term, by the way; it’s how Wall Street refers to individual investors who repeatedly sell stocks at a low price, only to turn around later and buy them for high…

NorthStar Hits All-Time High Following Strong February

The NorthStar Equity portfolio closed at an all-time high of +53% total return as of February month-end. The S&P 500 with dividends gained a total of only +14.5% during the same time period (Jul 2006-Feb 2011). Notably, the monthly percent return of +9.8% makes February 2011 the second strongest month in NorthStar’s history.

NorthStar vs. S&P 500

Visit the NCA Performance Page for additional information and disclosures regarding performance. Past performance may not be indicative of future results.

Oppenheimer vs Vanguard

Target-date mutual funds run by Vanguard charge an average of 0.18% of invested assets per year. Oppenheimer charge 1.68% of invested assets per year. Oppenheimer investors pay 9.3 times more than Vanguard investors for the same product.

« First ‹ Prev 62 63 646566 67 68 Next ›Last »