Manage My Money

A Greek philosopher once said “change is the only constant” and that is certainly true when it comes to New Orleans real estate. That’s why I asked real estate professional Andrew Sheppard a few questions that might help buyers and sellers navigate this market. What factors are driving the current real estate market, and how […]

As investors, we must often remind ourselves that markets are forward-looking in nature and that the current, known events have less influence on market returns than one would think. Rather, stocks and bonds trade based on perceived future events, which are by nature unknowable. This is why markets dislike, but trade on, uncertainty. Thus far

The active vs. passive¹ funds debate has been with us for some time. Generally, proponents of active management are looking to “beat the market.” For several years during our recent raging bull market, the average passively managed fund has outperformed the average actively managed fund. Morningstar contends that “passive investing is now the mainstream approach,”

Ah, we restless humans. Sometimes, it pays to strive for greener grass. But as an investor, second-guessing a stable strategy can leave you in the weeds. Trading in reaction to excitement or fear tricks you into buying high (chasing popular trends) and selling low (fleeing misfortunes), while potentially incurring unnecessary taxes and transaction costs along

In our last piece, we summarized the ways a successful stock buyback can deliver powerful, tax-efficient value to shareholders, without stunting future growth. But stock buybacks are like any other power tool: They’re not always the best, or even safest device for every job. Today, we’ll wrap by covering some of the potential downsides to

In Part 1 we described why dividend investing—or, stocking up on stocks with a reputation for consistently paying out attractive dividends—may not be an ideal strategy for generating a dependable income stream out of your investment portfolio.   Today, we’ll look at why we prefer a total return investment strategy instead of seeking more concentrated dividend

There’s a popular perception that “dividend stocks”—i.e., stocks with a reputation for paying out consistent dividends—can deliver decent returns, while also creating a dependable income stream for spending in retirement or elsewhere.   But is stocking up on dividend stocks really such a good idea? Building a concentrated position in dividend stocks may appeal at a