mollyshannis: Self Directed Investing For Retirement Carnival ? Political & Bond ...

Which Direction Will We Choose?

What do the political conventions and bonds have to do with each other? The public is buying bonds in record amounts and the government is setting records in issuing bonds.

Investors are accepting the lowest rewards (interest rate) and highest risk (price of the bonds) in history. The government is piling on unsustainable amounts of debt that threaten our economic security.? Is everyone insane?

We are watching competing visions of our future. As a Libertarian, I?m not completely satisfied with either side. Nevertheless, the two visions are quite different.

In my opinion, one side wants to take the first steps in making the hard choices towards a sustainable policy. While the other side wants to continue the Bush/Obama policies of a larger and more intrusive government that redistributes wealth instead of creating wealth.

Which direction will we choose?

Note: I am rejecting many submissions because they do not meet the requirements of this carnival. Although your submission may be of the highest quality, submissions must be investing posts.

Here are the investing posts submitted by these quality bloggers:

VALUE INVESTING STRATEGIES

Matt Alden at Dividend Monk writes The Shiller P/E: A Tool For Market Valuation. An overview of the Shiller P/E. The advantages and disadvantages of this simple ratio, and how it can give a high-level awareness for portfolio construction.

Mark at My Own Advisor writes Why Now is Probably The Wrong Time To Shift Your Equities to Bonds. I get it. The stock market is nuts. You?re not making much money and neither am I. What is an investor to do? Move away from equities into bonds? Not so fast. I think you should avoid selling equities and moving into bonds right now. Find out why.

[Editors Note: I would not own ANY bonds right now. The risk is too high! Consider increasing your allocation to the most hated asset of all right now, cash.]

Kanwal Sarai at Simply Investing writes? Can You Learn From a 106 Year Old? Irving Kahn is an American value investor and money manager and the oldest living active investment professional at 106. He was an early disciple of Benjamin Graham, the creator of the value investing methodology.

Roger Wohlner at The Chicago Financial Planner writes Bond Funds Safe Haven or Risky Asset? _ An Update. The Federal Reserve has continued its efforts to keep interest rates low. At some point, however, rates are likely to rise. Here are some of the factors to keep in mind if you own or are considering investing in a bond mutual fund or ETF.

RISK MANAGEMENT

J.P. at Novel Investor writes Understanding Interest Rate Risk. For the average investor, the best way to manage interest rate risk is to change your fixed income asset allocation. When the risk is high, we lower our allocation in bonds and other fixed income assets.

[Editors Note: Exactly!? It seems like common sense; but most investors are doing exactly the opposite.]

JT McGee at Investor Junkie writes Four Top Investment Mistakes You Are Making Today. Investing is a task unlike any other. Rarely is there an opportunity to outperform just by avoiding big mistakes. The truth is that the best investors aren?t those that hit home runs. The best investors simply avoid big mistakes.

Neal Frankle at Wealth Pilgrim writes How to Create Safe Income From Mutual Funds. There are many ways to create income from mutual funds. But there are only a few that are really safe over the long run.

ASSET ALLOCATION and DIVERSIFICATION

Glen Craig at Free From Broke writes The Different Stock Market Sectors ? Are You Taking Advantage? Besides the vast number of stocks you can find there are also stock market sectors. See what the most common stock sectors are and how they can help you.

Dave at Excess Return writes? Truly Diversified Investments or Fourteen Similar Golf Clubs? Golf and investing have many parallels. Winning at either requires discipline, hard work, focus, patience, a long-term mindset, cutting your losses, staying in your comfort zone, and emotional control. One equally important parallel that is often overlooked is diversification.

Ryan at Cash Money Life writes Investing For Cash Flow ? Building a More Diversified Portfolio. After reviewing my investment portfolio, I realized virtually everything was tied up in the stock markets. That has historically been a recipe for success, but my goal is to further diversify m y portfolio to include investments that generate cash flow.

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Boomer at Boomer and Echo writes Why Is It So Hard To Sell Those Investment Dogs? Typically, investment dogs have dropped in value, sometimes substantially, and then stagnated. Here?s why it?s so hard to sell them.

Darrow at Can I Retire Yet writes Constant Retirement Withdrawals: Realistic or Not? Most retirement analyses assume you?ll withdraw the same amount from your next egg every year. But once you plan your retirement cash flow in detail, or actually retire, you?ll realize that this cookie-cutter approach to spending just doesn?t cut it.

Bob at Christian PF writes What is Momentum Investing? Youve probably heard the old adage that when it comes to investing, past performance does not guarantee future performance. Momentum investing takes a somewhat different point of view.

INVESTMENT PLANNING STRATEGIES

Dividend Growth Investor writes The Live Off Dividends Retirement Plan. Dividend stocks provide investors with a stable and dependable stream of income which maintains its purchasing power. In addition, this income source is tax efficient and could last for life and even be available to pass on to future generations.

Squeezer at Personal Finance Success writes Dividend Basics and Important Dates to Remember. Dividends are when companies pay shareholders (investors) for owning a portion of the company. Money must be invested by a specific date to earn the dividend.

Mike Collins at Wealthy Turtle Blog writes Tax-Deferred Accounts Aren?t Always the Best Option. Many people take for granted that tax-deferred accounts are always better than taxable accounts. But it may be time to rethink that assumption.

Tagged as: investing carnival, retirement carnival

AAAMP Blog by Ken Faulkenberry

Ken Faulkenberry earned an MBA from the University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business with an emphasis in investments. Ken has 25 years of investment experience and is dedicated to helping people with self-directed investment management through the Arbor Investment Planner. His asset allocation strategies have an outstanding performance record.

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