Akron Area Ponzi Scheme & Transparency in Mutual Funds
A recently publicized Akron-area Ponzi scheme took in nearly $21 million from 47 people, SEC lawsuit says. A fake company was established that was marketed to investors as a business that buys and sells oil and refined fuel products. Investors … Continue reading
Retirement Expectations & Spending Patterns
When are you going to retire? How much are you going to spend in retirement? These questions increasingly have become more complicated. A diminishing number of people actually plan to leave work and embrace leisure on a full-time basis. Many … Continue reading
Retirees, Stocks, and Time Diversification
One area where many professional advisors disagree with academics is whether stock investments tend to become less risky as you go out in time. Advisors say that the longer you hold stocks, the more the ups and downs tend to … Continue reading
Investor Self-Delusions, Brain Damage and Jay Leno
The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said that nothing is as difficult for people as not deceiving themselves. However, while most self-delusions may be relatively costless, those relating to investment can come with a hefty price tag. We delude ourselves for … Continue reading
Roth IRA Conversion Mathematics
Chances are you know about Roth IRAs and what makes them special. Any contributions you make are with after-tax funds, and if you convert all or part of a traditional IRA to a Roth, you have to pay taxes at … Continue reading
Kevin Kroskey In The Press: “DIY Investing”
I was recently interviewed for a Crain’s Cleveland on “DIY Investing.” It’s funny how each time I’m quoted, regardless of the publication, it tends to be more of a editorialized quote to paraphrase what I said and fit into the … Continue reading
The Devil Wears Nada: What Fashion & Investing Have In Common
The global fashion industry is fickle by nature, pushing and then pulling trends to keep hapless consumers forever turning over their wardrobes. Much of the financial services industry works the same way. Fashion designers, manufacturers, and media operate by telling … Continue reading
Retirement Distribution Planning & Maximizing After-tax Wealth
Location, location, location. It matters when it comes to real estate. It also matters when it comes to the way you hold and invest your retirement savings. You cannot control what happens with the tax code, but you can control … Continue reading
Willy Wonka Meets Wall Street
In a popular children’s story, the young hero pins all his hopes on finding one of a handful of “golden tickets” hidden among millions of candy bars. It seems many people approach investing the same way. The notion that the … Continue reading
Behavioral Finance, Poor Investment Results and a Developing Nanny State
One of the most interesting areas of financial research these past ten years has come, oddly, not from economists or investment researchers, but psychologists, who are pioneering a branch of study known as “behavioral finance.” This has led to one … Continue reading
