Ready for this week’s retirement investing pop quiz? In what kind of bonds should you invest the fixed income portion of your portfolio if you thought that a huge economic downturn was just around the corner—U.S. Treasurys or High-Grade Corporate Bonds? The standard answer from most financial planners is the …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: Hope to retire someday? See if you can answer these six simple questions
So you think you’re financially astute? Then try taking the following financial literacy test containing just three basic questions about interest rates, inflation and diversification. Despite being quite elementary, only 34% of adults aged 38 to 64 are able to answer all three correctly. Among millennials this percentage is just …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: Wondering how much your Social Security check will increase next year?
Are you happy or sad that your monthly Social Security check next year will be approximately 1.2% higher than it is this year? Your answer no doubt depends on whether you look at the glass as half full or half empty. Had the Social Security Administration set next year’s COLA …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: Retirees should consider today’s most unpopular investment — here’s why
Have you ever wondered what investment today is the most out of favor? Most of us never even ask this question, since such investments by definition don’t even appear on our radar screens. But, as contrarians constantly remind us, we are vulnerable to making big mistakes by blindly following the …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: Gold timers have rarely been more bullish than they are today — that’s a bad sign
A big test for contrarian analysis is brewing in the gold pits. That’s because bullishness among gold market timers has rarely been higher than it is today. Since 2000, which is when I began tracking the average recommended exposure level among such timers, optimism about gold was higher on just …
Read More »NewsWatch: Hulbert: My stock market forecast for June is likely wrong — but watch out for August
MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE The March lows of the coronavirus crash could still be tested, writes Mark Hulbert. See full story. Ohio governor urges people to wear face masks: ‘This is not about politics’ “This is one time when we truly are all in this together. What we do directly impacts …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: These 4 stocks are investment pros’ favorites — and not one is a ‘FAANG’ stock
It takes guts to be a value investor these days. But the top-performing investment newsletters have no shortage of courage. By value, I’m referring to stocks that are out of favor, trading for relatively low ratios of price-to-earnings, book value, sales, and so forth. Value’s opposite is growth: Stocks in …
Read More »Mark Hulbert: Why the long run might not bail out your stock portfolio after all
If we’re being honest, the range of possible coronavirus-related economic outcomes is huge — all the way from “happy days are here again” to a new Dark Ages. I raise these possibilities by way of commenting on Warren Buffett’s subdued confidence at Berkshire Hathaway’s BRK.A, +1.73% BRK.B, +1.93% annual meeting …
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