MONEY matters

If all goes well, next month traders on the stock markets of Chile, Columbia and Peru (proposed as the Pacific Common Market) will be able to seamlessly buy and sell the shares of companies listed with each other. After two years of negotiation, the Integrated Latin American Market will instantly become Latin America’s second largest stock market, after Brazil’s.

Next on the list is talk of an impending ‘free-trade’ agreement between the U.S and South Korea, Panama and Columbia. There’s wide spread belief, but by no means certainty, that a deal will be struck in Congress approving these agreements before the August recess. With so much rancor in D.C these days, it’s hard to imagine any deal getting done, but the odds are high this one will go through.

For most people, a conversation about stocks, bonds, index funds, 529 plans, IRA’s, 401K’s, financial planning, etc, is the equivalent of a sleeping pill. For many it’s also a necessary task but not high up there in terms of joy and fulfillment.

Back in October of 2009, I wrote a blogpost about Brazil I called Blame it on Rio. I felt Brazil was a country on the rise and one worth investing in. With President Obama’s recent visit to Brazil, it’s clear we are watching this emerging economy take its rightful place on the world stage.

In 2010, Brazil’s economy grew by a blistering 7.5%, a rate unmatched since 1986. This meant that Brazil overtook Italy to rank as the world’s seventh-biggest economy. Their new President, Dilma Rousseff, is already receiving high marks for her early performance.

Last quarter, I posted the financial task list for January, February and March, taken from the Financial Planning Association (FPA) website. This second post is for tasks that need to be completed for April, May and June, which are quickly approaching.

As both my parents and in-laws are well into their 80's, I so appreciate and value the importance of the task for the month of May; talking to your parents about estate, health and long-term care planning. Please don't put this one off - you will save yourself and your loved ones a huge amount of work and heartache if you address these important and inevitable end of life issues sooner rather than later.  

Happy International Women's Day!

When national polls and surveys are conducted on the subject of retirement planning, the question that’s inevitably asked is: how well prepared are you and your spouse or partner for retirement? The results are usually pretty alarming.

Many of us are procrastinators by nature, but place money, financial planning and the big Kahuna - retirement planning on the to-do list and many of us could win a gold medal at the annual Procrastination Olympics. You know who you are. That retirement planning to-do list grows year by year and the amount of money you think or imagine you need to accumulate grows exponentially each year along with your stress level.

As an avid John Bogle fan as well as a strong believer in the value of using low cost index funds for your core portfolio, these new kids on the block, fundamental index funds are, well - sexy!

As any fan of John Bogle would know, his esteemed leadership as the former head of Vanguard is one that has benefited investors worldwide. It was John Bogle that brought index fund investing to the masses.