Here’s our Thanksgiving-weekend roundup of recent articles on investing, personal finance, and stewardship.
Enjoy! (And pass the leftovers...)
Vanguard index funds’ fees are going even lower (Kiplinger). Vanguard is eliminating many of its higher-cost "Investor Shares" classes, so this pricing change is of particular interest to SMI Upgraders using traditional funds rather than ETFs for the bond portion of their portfolio. (Note: Vanguard will convert existing Investor Shares to Admiral Shares over the coming months. If you’d like to convert immediately, see this Vanguard news release.)
The inventor of the 401(k) thinks it has gone awry (Barron’s). "A potentially low-cost solution for participants got embraced by the financial industry when they realized, ’Hey, we can use this to add another layer of things and make more money for us and advisors.’"
The tech stock fall lost these 5 companies $800 billion in market value (The New York Times). Facebook, Apple, and Amazon have endured the biggest declines, each down at least $250 billion from its 2018 peak.
2018 holiday shopping report (Nerdwallet). Wow. Nearly 40 million Americans are still paying off credit card debt from last year’s Christmas-shopping season.
Beware of scams lurking among the holiday deals (Wired). Black Friday and Cyber Monday are particularly appealing for hackers.
And from the bloggers and pundits...
U.S. stocks post the only 1-Year gain for the major asset classes (James Picerno, The Capital Spectator). This is just a snapshot, of course, but as of earlier this week, every major asset class save U.S. stocks was showing a 12-month decline.
A little perspective (Jonathan Clements, Humble Dollar). Having a stock-market investment fall 5 or 10 percent is an unhappy circumstance. But we sometimes give up that much in other areas while hardly thinking about it!
Do annuities have a place in your retirement portfolio? (Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch). "A consensus answer appears as elusive as ever," says Hulbert.
Are health care sharing ministries a viable alternative to health insurance for early retirement? (Chris Mamula, Can I Retire Yet?). A piece targeted to people who retire before reaching the sign-up age for Medicare.
10 of my favorite quotes about giving (Bob Lotich, SeedTime). The list includes this gem from the late Welsh pastor Selwyn Hughes: "You can’t serve God and Money, but you can serve God with money."
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