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No Wonder You're Losing to the Market

Wed, 19/09/2007 - 07:53 by Tim Beyers

Good news for the anger-management crowd. According to a new study, you're a superior investor.

Well, sort of. Myeong-Gu Seo of the University of Maryland and Lisa Feldman Barrett of Boston College studied 101 stock investors and their trades over a four-week period. They found that those who embraced their emotions were more efficient with their decisions, more creative in their trading, and more engaged.

The SEC May Shut You Up

Tue, 18/09/2007 - 07:53 by Selena Maranjian
We can thank our friends at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for many things, such as requiring public companies to file regular financial reports and then making those reports available to us. Just read how it describes its mission as the ultimate investor's advocate: "To protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation." It's enough to make your heart beat faster or lead you to swoon, isn't it? Well, OK, but you have to admit that it's at least encouraging.

Too Worried About Money?

Sat, 15/09/2007 - 10:52 by Mary Dalrymple

Here's a money paradox to ponder: If you never worry about money, you probably should, but if you always worry about money, you probably have nothing to worry about.

The Easiest Path to $1 Million

Fri, 14/09/2007 - 15:26 by Motley Fool

By Richard Gibbons

When thinking about the easiest way to make a million dollars, the lottery comes near the top of my list. But after extensive research into this intriguing investment strategy, I discovered a couple of problems. First, lottery tickets lose money on average. Second, they have really high variance -- I could buy a lottery ticket every day for the rest of my life and still not win the top prize. In fact, if I did it for my next 250 lifetimes, I most likely wouldn't win the top prize.

Stocks With Scruples

Fri, 14/09/2007 - 08:06 by Motley Fool

By S.J. Caplan

For those of you already familiar with the basics of socially responsible investing, feel free to skip down to the performance table for June and the month's news highlights. If you're just learning about the world of SRI, then you're right where you should be!

Market? Mattress? Neither!

Wed, 12/09/2007 - 08:23 by Dayana Yochim
A piggy bank is a fine place to toss that spare change jangling in the bottom of your purse. But for any amount more substantial, you can do better. Seriously better.

The Stocks You Need

Tue, 11/09/2007 - 08:15 by Tim Hanson

It's a proven fact that people hate losing money. In fact, according to researchers Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, it physically pains us.

With that as background, it's easy to understand why so many people who are planning for retirement have made protecting their principal paramount. And they're likely succeeding. After all, it's easy to protect your principal as along as you invest in nearly risk-free investments such as CDs, Treasuries, and high-grade bonds.

But such protection comes with a cost. And that cost -- to put it frankly -- is cruddy returns.

Who needs returns?
 One of the worst aspects of the market decline from 2000 to 2003 was that it seriously rattled investor confidence. And while the lesson that the market isn't a get-rich-quick scheme is a valuable one, there is no substitute for stocks when it comes to supercharging your retirement savings.

Consider, for example, the scenario for a future retiree who refused to be rattled by the market's decline. In 1997, this investor started investing $4,000 per year in Vanguard 500 (VFINX), a low-cost index fund that tracks the S&P 500. Our investor therefore has a position in a basket of large caps that currently includes Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC), and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL).

7 Signs of Financial Peril

Tue, 11/09/2007 - 08:06 by Selena Maranjian
Financial disasters can start small. Sometimes all it takes is one minor setback to cause financial strain to snowball into a full-fledged catastrophe. Before you know it, an avalanche of bad fortune has collapsed all around you. Do recognize any of these signs that you might be living on the edge?

Top Money Drains

Tue, 11/09/2007 - 07:58 by Selena Maranjian
We've all got sinkholes in our lives into which countless precious dollars fall. Mine include books, movies, and games. I have many more games than I really need, considering how much time I have to play them. I have stacks and stacks of books to read, when local libraries have the same books available, for free. I have piles of movies (and TV shows on DVD) to watch ... again, more than I really need. Still, I do play and read and watch some of them, regularly, and it's nice to know they're there when I want them.

A Fool Looks Back

Sun, 09/09/2007 - 09:42 by Rick Aristotle ...
As expected, Apple 's (Nasdaq: AAPL) media event on Wednesday birthed several new products. Most of the iPod lines got a fresh upgrade, like pudgy, video-enabled nanos. However, the two jaw-dropping moments at the event were Jobs' announcement that iPhone prices were being slashed by a third of their original $599 price, and his unveiling of the iPod touch.

Buy Your Employer's Stock

Sat, 08/09/2007 - 13:43 by Dan Caplinger

Let's get one thing out of the way: Your employer probably isn't the next Enron.

Bad experiences make a huge impression on investors. A generation of investors who went through the Great Depression convinced themselves that buying stocks was basically the same as betting at the track. Talk to old failed day-traders from the Internet boom era and you'll hear stories about how they'll never do it again.