As the markets continue to move up and down and as the media continues to have a field day playing with our emotions, it is no wonder that many investors find themselves questioning what lies ahead. While no one can predict what the markets will do or how people will react to the news of…
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A central tenet of our investment philosophy is diversification. Furthermore, we advocate for “real diversification”, which means owning thousands of stocks in companies of all sizes (large and small), geography (U.S. and non-US) and investment style (value and growth). This type of diversification represents the only “free-lunch” there is in investing. But real diversification also…
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In 1906, statistician Francis Galton attended a livestock fair where villagers were invited to guess the weight of an ox. No villager successfully guessed the correct weight, but Galton noticed that the average of all the guesses was 1,197 pounds — the exact weight of the ox. A famous experiment asked 56 students to guess…
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In Part 1 of this series, a brief list of the advantages and disadvantages of investing in publicly traded equities vs. direct real estate was provided. In this article, I will try to more directly answer the question, “which is better, stocks or real estate”? First of all, that is probably the wrong question to…
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Some investors choose to invest their savings in stocks while other others favor investing in directly real estate. Below is a brief list of the advantages and disadvantages of each. Advantages of Directly Owned Real Estate Leverage: The primary advantage of real estate is the ability to use leverage. Leverage is an investment strategy where…
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In the hierarchy of tax-preferenced savings vehicles, the Health Savings Account (HSA) sits at the top. Unlike an IRA or 401K, an HSA offers a triple tax benefit: contributions to the account are tax-deductible, earnings grow tax-deferred and distributions are tax-free as long as they are used to pay for qualified health expenses. In contrast,…
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As I discussed in a previous article, Dimensional and Vanguard are similar but are different in some key respects. While neither fund family relies on forecasting or individual security analysis, Vanguard funds are index funds while Dimensional funds are not. Both fund families are great options for investors. However, Dimensional provides several advantages that may…
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Through a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), a donor can make a charitable contribution, get an upfront tax deduction, and then recommend what charities to support and when. Funds can be distributed immediately or over time. In addition to the upfront tax deduction, DAFs also offer an added tax advantage when a donor makes a gift…
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Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors (Dimensional) both offer mutual funds that provide investors with broad exposure to various asset classes at a very low cost. However, there are important differences between the two fund families. But first, let’s start with a bit of history… Vanguard introduced the Vanguard 500 fund in 1975, becoming one of…
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In the past, when it came to income taxes, people who were charitably inclined could make charitable gifts to reduce their taxable income. While that opportunity is still available under the new tax law, the standard deduction is now much higher ($12,200 for single and $24,400 for couples under 65 in 2019) and, as a…
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