“An educated investor is one who understands the importance of diversification, the trade-off between risk and return, and how to evaluate an investment opportunity. An educated investor understands that if something sounds too good to be true, it likely is.”
- Cynthia Glasser, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, April 2006
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"In my view, before they make a purchase, investors deserve full and clear disclosure of all the fees and costs that come out of their pockets, either directly or indirectly, to pay for all the activities related to the operation and sale of these products, including whether a broker's recommendation benefits the broker."

- Cynthia Glasser, Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, March 2006

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"It is my contention that active management does not make sense theoretically and isn't justified empirically. Other than that, it's O.K. But it's easy to understand the allure, the seductive power of active management. After all, it's exciting, fun to dip and dart, pick stocks and time markets; to get paid high fees for this, and to do it all with someone else's money."

- Rex Sinquefield, Dimensional Fund Advisors, 1995

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"Investors… invest on the basis of performance, try as we might to tell them that past performance is no indication of future performance."

- Commissioner Paul Atkins, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, April 2006

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"Investment return is far more dependent on investor behavior than on fund performance.

DALBAR Inc.

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"The discrepancy between a fund's performance and that of its shareholders can be large. Investors would benefit from knowing how well they did as opposed to how well their fund did."

- Barry Barbash, director of the SEC investment management division, 1997

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Visit our Useful Links to see a list of sites that contain more valuable information.


Typical Advice
Much of the financial press operates with incentives which may not be in the interest of investors. Publications such as Money and Smart Money have an agenda, like any business, to increase their revenue. They do so by running stories that will maximize their audience and, accordingly, their advertising revenues.
What types of stories do that? All too often it is some version of "Five Mutual Funds for the Coming Year" or "The Next Microsoft"—headlines that will motivate a reader to buy the publication in order to learn how to make a killing in the market.
Investor Results
Investors following the advice of their trusted publications underperform major stock market indexes by ten percent a year. These paltry results are not acceptable.
Baby boomers planning for retirement need quality investment returns, investor eduation and investment advice. 
Purpose of This Site
To provide information about investing and financial planning that is free of the influences and biases of advertising dollars and large financial institutions.
Investor Education
• For those just learning, Investment 101 discusses how money works, compounding, stocks and bonds in an easy to understand visual format.
• Mutual Fund Mechanics (coming soon) covers mutual fund fees and expenses and explains the differences between passive mutual funds and actively managed mutual funds.
• Searching for Advice provides insight in to the financial services industry and why there is such a discrepancy in the quality of advice that may be provided.
• The e-book Sensible Money is a must read for anyone in need of retirement income.  It provides a historical perspective on the equity markets and the amount of inflation adjusted income a retiree would expect to receive over their lifetime. You may download it for free by clicking on the link in the first line of this paragraph.
What Can You Do Here?
• Learn investment concepts by watching short, educational power point presentations
• Run your own projections using various financial calculators (coming soon) 
• Browse the book reviews
• Visit our links section to find other relevant sites
• Read articles on a variety of financial planning topics
Financial Planning Phase
On this site you will find presentations, books, articles, charts, graphs and worksheets relevant to any of  the categories below.
• Just Learning
• Investing Right
• Planning for Retirement  
• Ready to Retire


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