William Thorndike – Author of “The Outsiders” – 2 Qualities that Make a Great CEO

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I first heard of the book “The Outsiders” in Berkshire Hathaway’s 2012 letter to shareholders. And who is going to ignore a book that Buffett calls “outstanding!”?

The book goes in detail on 8 different CEOs who excelled at creating exceptional long term returns for shareholders. In fact, the average returns of these companies’ shares outperformed the S&P 500 by a factor of 20 – every $10,000 invested in these companies was worth $1.5 million 25 years later.

What’s their secret? And how can we use those lessons to find today’s great CEOs?

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State of Investors – Where are We Investing Our Money Today?

This was in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, it depicts the average investment asset allocation by generation:

 

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The title of the article was “The Biggest Mistake People Make – Decade by Decade

And if you can’t tell from the picture alone, Millennial’s (and every other generation’s) biggest mistake is playing it too safe – allocating 70% (!) of their money in cash. [continue reading…]

Quote of the Week: The First Key to Investing

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There are many factors that go into creating long term success for investors. Despite what the talking heads on CNBC or your broker or advisor may say, trading in and out of today’s hottest investments is not one.

Investors have struggled in finding out what it takes to succeed for long periods on Wall Street.

Just in the last decade and a half investors have been made to believe they are investing geniuses in 1999, only to be burned by 90% losses in the tech bubble of 2000. Thought they were real estate market wizards only to been stuck holding 5 houses in the real estate bust of 2008. Or, been scared to believe that the only viable investment is a shiny yellow metal, only to see a decline of $600 an ounce in gold since 2011 (this is just to name a few).

 

So when the founder and CEO of one of the most successful fund management companies of the last 30 years opens up about his firm’s investment philosophy, it’s probably in our best interest to listen.

 

His best advice is only one sentence long, simple to implement and takes less effort than pouring a cup of coffee:  [continue reading…]

Quote of the Week: Just Average Investment Fees Can Turn a Top Performing Strategy into a Loser

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ETF.com is out with a really good interview with Meb Faber discussing topics from his new book: Global Asset Allocation: A Survey of the World’s Top Asset Allocation Strategies Topics of the interview include Asset Allocations, the effects of taxes and fees on your investment returns and more.

But what really jumped out to me was his answer to the question:

ETF.com: Would ETFs change that equation if the best-performing portfolio were allocated primarily to low-cost ETFs?

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Weekend Reading 9-7-14

A month of 80 hour weeks at my real job has made posts on here non-existent. Work remains busy, but hopefully here is to getting back on track.

 

Lots of amazing posts and research over the past month, here are some of my top reads. Topics include: Determining how long this bull market can last, Asset Allocation and solid blogs to add to your reading list. [continue reading…]

Chart of the Week: Millennials Favorite Investment is Also the Worst Performing

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Bankrate.com is out this afternoon with results of their monthly financial survey. One of the questions Bankrate asks is: “What is your preferred method of investing money that you don’t need for at least 10 years.” [continue reading…]

Weekend Reading 4-20-14

Here are some articles that caught my attention this weekend. Topics include: Evaluating your investment strategy, investing in low interest rates, hedge fund performance and asset allocation for young investors. [continue reading…]

Weekend Reading 3/3/2014

Here are some articles that caught my attention this past weekend. Topics include: The value of Diversification, Investing in a bull market and of course, Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter. [continue reading…]

Historical Asset Allocation Calculator

Why is determining an Asset Allocation one of the most important decisions you will make when setting up and maintaining your portfolio? With our new interactive asset allocation calculator, you can find out. See how different allocations to stocks, bonds, REITs and gold would have affected your portfolio over the last 3 decades. [continue reading…]

Weekend Reading 10/7/13

Here are some articles that caught my attention this past weekend. Topics include; Asset Allocation, and doing dumb things with your investments in a government shutdown.

On a side note, after a quiet couple of weeks posting should be back to regular, more frequent intervals at BeginToInvest…Thanks for your patience!

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These 26% of Investors Have No Chance

USA Today is reporting the results of a new study this morning. The question posed to 1,000 investors: “What is the best investment for your long term goal?”

The answer? It will never get them there.

Click Here To See What They Said

Guidelines That Keep You On Pace for Retirement

 

It’s hard for young investors to really visualize how much they should be saving in order to meet their needs for retirement.  But with some recent studies from Vanguard and Fidelity investors now have a few guidelines to make sure that they stay on track with saving for retirement.

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Part 2: A Comparison of Investment Account Types

Where do you invest your money once you have decided to save and invest?

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Part 4: Asset Allocation and Investment Strategy

This is part 4 in our “Getting Started Series”. Part 1 on an introduction to investing can be found here , Part 2 on investment account types can be found here and Part 3 on security types and brokers can be found here.

 

What is Asset Allocation and Why is it Important?

 

Asset allocation describes how an investor splits up the money in their investment portfolio into certain asset types such as stocks, bonds and cash.

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