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The Great Real Estate Bubble

03/23/05 -

Broadly speaking, there are three asset classes: stocks, bonds, and real estate. Cash, or money market funds, are really just a type of bond – very short term and very safe. While investors can gain access to all three with mutual funds, most own real estate directly. For many, real estate is their biggest, and often their best investment.

There are three main reasons real estate has generally been a successful investment for most people: 1) by buying a home, investors are effectively paying themselves rent 2) a mortgage is essentially a forced savings program paid into each and every month 3) because of the nature of the investment, real estate investors tend to avoid the poor decisions they make when they invest in other major asset classes.

Unfortunately, this last factor may be changing.

February 2005 performance alert

We’re happy this portfolio’s performance. Only two of the funds were actually down for the month, Vanguard Short Term Corporate was down .21% - a decent indication of how this fund does when interest rates climb a bit. It would be difficult – if not impossible - to lose more than 10% in a year in this fund no matter what happens to the bond market.

Ask MAX: Can I build a fund portfolio with just $17,000?

03/16/05 - Ask MAX

Leena from Maine asks:

I read your article that recommended that investors with less than $15,000 invest in a Vanguard fund. Well, I have $17,000 to invest, and wanted to know how I should invest it. I took your risk quiz and am a moderate investor."

You’re referring to this article in which we advised Matthew, a young Navy sailor serving in Iraq, to invest in the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth fund via an auto-investment plan. Matthew was starting out with just $2,000 (while adding $500 per month), and we told him to invest in this single Vanguard fund because it would give him a high degree of diversification (this particular fund is a collection of funds that owns other Vanguard funds) with a low initial investment requirement.

We told Matthew to stick to the Vanguard LifeStrategy Growth fund until he had grown his portfolio to $15k, then to come back to us to discuss where he should go from there. While the fund has risen more than 5% since Matthew asked his question back in November, we’re pretty sure he hasn’t reached the $15k threshold yet – but we’re guessing he wouldn’t mind if we answer your question in the meantime. You are starting out with more money than Matthew, but you are facing similar problems. Every investor, no matter how much money they are starting out with, should aim for certain goals when building an investment portfolio: diversification, low fees, and the right risk level.

Ask MAX: Can I convert my regular IRA to a Roth IRA?

Holly from Santa Fe asks:

Can I convert my regular IRA to a Roth IRA, and should I?"

First, let's tackle the "can you" part of your question, then we'll move on to the "should you".

Can You? The answer to this question is relatively simple to determine. You can convert from a regular to a Roth IRA if your adjusted growth income is below $100,000. That figure applies to both single filers, married couples filing jointly, and heads of household.

If you're married and you're filing separately, you're out of luck. Rules concerning conversions specifically forbid married persons filing separately from converting their IRAs.

That's about all there is to the "can you" part. But now things get a bit more complicated.

The high road and the low road

One aspect that makes investing so frustrating is the unpredictable pattern stocks follows. The market is like a drunk stumbling home from a bar - you can’t expect a straight path, but you can be reasonably sure of the final destination – home.

Ask MAX: Investing $20 a month?

02/24/05 - Ask MAX

Katherine from California asks:

I’m 21 years old and interested in starting to invest $20 a month, what do you recommend?"

Most people don’t start investing until they have more money to invest. However, investing smaller amounts of money for a longer time period can be even more beneficial than investing larger amounts later in life.

It sounds impossible, but $20 invested today could be worth $500 when you hit 70 years old – and that’s using a fairly conservative growth rate below the historical stock market return.

Sadly, it can be difficult to invest small amounts of money. While you can always save in a bank account or even in a money market mutual fund, you’ll get a bigger bang for your buck in a lower fee mutual fund that invests in stocks. Mutual funds allow a small investor to invest in dozens of stocks for a reasonable fee.

Most good mutual funds require investors to fork over $2,500 to get started, although there are many good ones that require $1,000. Better for your situation, some waive the minimum if you agree to invest a small amount of money each month.

January 2005 performance review

The Conservative portfolio lost .46% for the month of January. We were too light on longer term bonds to have a positive return in a month when most categories of funds slipped.

Time to Choose a New Broker? - Part II

Last month we shared the unfortunate news that Scottrade is raising their mutual fund buying fees. This month we will go into greater detail about the alternatives to Scottrade. 

December 2004 performance review

The main drivers were utility and foreign stocks. American Century Utility Income was up a whopping 23.8% in 2004, as this formerly out of favor category finally caught investor’s attention. Forward International Small Company – a high risk fund we have at just 5% now – was up 25.5%.