Personal finance and investing is just that: it's personal. From the day the first shares are bought, for the individual who surmises it's undertaking, the decisions made today will have everlasting impacts on not only the distant future of the investor but the investor's family for generations to come. Combine this with current uncertainty in the stock markets, housing markets and economy and you have effectively driven a wedge between the investor, his income and his family at large. Statistics abound in reference to how poorly managed the majority of American's finances are and it's no wonder with the abundance of securities that are available in today's markets.
Mutual funds and index funds have been triumphed as the "go to" investment vehicles for personal retirement savings and wealth building. In today's markets these securities are still very common and overall the performance and evaluation of index funds and actively managed mutual funds has come under scrutiny. By delving into the inner workings of these two securities with purpose of garnering further financial intelligence for the average investor, a comparison and contrasting of the two securities can be accomplished. Therefore, the following will be disclosed, dissected and detailed: the returns of actively managed mutual funds and index funds are historically similar in nature, the myriad of funds in the market provide varying degrees of risk and reward and that while managed funds typically have higher fees then index funds, each has been able prove over their individual abilities to achieve respectable gains and profitability over time.
Index funds and actively managed mutual funds have many similarities so for the purposes of clarification, definitions...
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References
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This structure was beneficial for the decision-making and profit generation for the clients and gave incentive to the fund manager to get a good investment performance. If clients were solely focused on investment performance and the entire peer group also kept to adopt the traditional model, this approach proved effective to business growth.
If the people use their personal accounts, the retirees will then see higher returns on their investments. As a result, will put more money in the retiree’s pockets. Martin Feldstein, stated, “A private account earning a modest 5.5% real rate of return, "someone with $50,000 of real annual earnings during his working years could accumulate enough to fund an annual payout of about $22,000 after age 67, essentially doubling the current Social Security
The Millionaire Next Door written by William Danko and Thomas J. Stanley illustrates the misconception of high luxury spenders in wealthy neighborhoods are considered wealthy. This clarifies that American’s who drive expensive cars, and live in lavish homes are not millionaires and financially independent. The authors show the typical millionaire are one that is frugal, and disciplined. Their cars are used, and their suits were purchased at a discount. As we read the book from cover to cover are misconceptions start to fade. The typical millionaire is very frugal in all endeavors and finds the best discounts possible. A budget is implemented daily, monthly, and annually for a typical millionaire. They live by the budget and are goal oriented. Living well below their means is crucial for a millionaire, and discovering ways to allocate time and money more efficiently. The typical millionaire next door is different than the majority of America presumes. Let’s first off mention what it is not. The typical millionaire is surprisingly not the individual with the lavish house worth a million dollars, owning multiple expensive cars, a boat, expensive clothes, and ultimately living lavishly. The individual is frugal and often looks for discounts for consumable goods. The book illustrates the typical millionaire in one simple word: frugal. It is shocking to believe that this is true, but it does make sense. To achieve financial independence is inherently more satisfying and important than accumulating wealth. According to the book the majority of these millionaires portray characteristics of being sacrificial, disciplined, persistent and frugal. In the book it states, “Being frugal is the cornerstone of wealth-building. Yet far too often th...
The fact is that a lot of Americans are uneducated when it comes to saving their money. Living hand to mouth and check to check is definitely no way to live, however a majority of Americans do in fact live like this. Most middle class and lower class Americans do not understand that putting all of there earnings in a checking account is actually not the best or safest idea. With the current low interest rates, you are actually losing money if you are fully invested in a money market due to inflation. Thi...
The active investment management is the investing style which the portfolio managers believe that the market is not efficient and the mispricing is existing. Therefore, they could outperform the market and gain the excess return through a series of investing strategy, such as stock selection and market timing. On the opposite, passive investment management is the one which the portfolio managers believe that the market is efficient and no one can beat the market so that there is no excess return. As a result, the passive portfolio managers always seek to replicate the performance of the market index to make
Malone, K., Stewart, S. D., Wilson, J., & Korsching, P. F. (2010). Perceptions of financial well-
Ross, S.A., Westerfield, R.W., Jaffe, J. and Jordan, B.D., 2008. Modern Financial Management: International Student Edition. 8th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies.
Various researches can determine possible reasons as to why consumers have quite a lot of trouble making financial decisions that can be the most beneficial later in life. In the context of savings for retirement, conclusions from a test reveal that self-regulatory state, possible future orientation and more and better financial knowledge can and most likely will influence a consumers intentions for retirement investments, for example, setting up a 401K in the USA. Other studies suggest consumers who show higher amounts of future orientation are usually more likely to start up a retirement plan. Studies also show that financial knowledge and financial orientation toward ones future can help to influence the chances of one participating in a 401K plan.
William Sharpe, Gordon J. Alexander, Jeffrey W Bailey. Investments. Prentice Hall; 6 edition, October 20, 1998
Parents may not feel comfortable enough with their own financial situation to discuss personal finance with their children (Williams, 2009). Additionally, the parents, or other influencers, may not have a full grasp of certain concepts of financial literacy. In an article by Carlin and Robinson (2010) it was noted that “many retirement-age adults lack the financial literacy to understand the basic features of their retirement plans.” Financial literacy through socialization and practice may not be enough for students; whether it be “disadvantaged” youths who often lack a high quality of life at home, or youths whose parents have stable jobs with retirement
The execution of our investment strategy occurred in three stages. First, we invested in t-bills and bonds according to our original set out investment plan. This was to decrease potential losses and risk associated with the declining equity market. Therefore, we invested about two hundred thousand of our funds into these low risk assets to maintain buying power. Due to inflation, we did not want to lose buying power by leaving funds in an account without earning interest. Further, we invested a small portion of funds into the commodity market. With a slumping equity market and a positive outlook on the gold commodity, we invested in Gold Corporation at the same time we invested in income assets.
In the paper published by Xiong (2010), it is presented that a portfolio’s total return can be disintegrated into three components: the market return, the asset allocation policy return in excess of the market return, and the return from active portfolio management. The asset allocation policy return refers to the fixed asset allocati...
While it is very important for young individuals to start to save and invest for their retirement, there are aspects that they should consider before jumping into investing into securities. Those subjects are cash, enough insurance, should you buy a home, how secure is your job, how much risk can you handle, equities are risky, get started, do everything, be flexible, and can you save and invest too much. These ten aspects should be looked at, analyzed, and taken into very critical thought before saving and investing into securities.
A personal financial plan is essentially important for any person and their loved ones to minimize future hardships and difficult financial situations. Short and long-term financial freedom and stability is something an individual wants to have through to the end of his or her life. Financially planning for one’s retirement years is vital so a person does not sustain major unhappiness or unnecessary pain in what is supposed to be the reward for working so hard in their younger years.
In my conclusion, it is very important to save for the beneficiary of the upcoming future. Simply setting aside a percentage of the income received each paycheck will be the backbone to an unexpected situation. Emergency reasons, retirement, and luxury spending can all be obtained if one is mindful of their spending. Money is the biggest cause of stress in America today and mindful everyday spending can lead one to experience real financial freedom. The earlier an individual begins to save in life, the more financially stable they will be in their