As many of you know, I’m an expert on the DAILYWORTH site. Recently, they launched a new series called THE MONEY FIX. It connected DailyWorth readers with top national money experts (myself included) who offered each woman a game plan for tackling her specific money problem. I had the fortunate experience of working with Camille, age 25 from Los Angeles, on her 401k. She was a pleasure to work with and wrote three funny yet informative articles. More importantly, in a short time, Camille learned about her 401k, picked investments and then went on to manage it on an ongoing basis. Her sense of humor makes reading about 401k and investing well worth it! Please read her stories here.
A few highlights: * Camille increased her contribution to take advantage of her company matching. She learned she was leaving money on the table. * By identifying which funds are performing the best, I was able to teach and help Camille pick out four mutual funds: Large-cap, Small-cap, International and Bonds. * If you are looking at your portfolio and want to figure out how you are doing, be vigilant about two things: your asset allocation and investment performance. * Read why Camille said “Investing is thrilling, far more thrilling than buying a new pair of shoes.” * Her 401K company calculates all her equity/bond asset allocation so she is easily able to maintain the correct percentages. 3 months ago, she didn’t even know the words asset allocation! * She learns how to examine how the fund is performing in comparison to an index, like the S&P, MSCI or EAFE for international funds. Ideally, the mutual fund should perform better than the index.
If you need your own MONEY FIX, give me a call to setup an appointment in January or sign up for my next seminar starting in February (details coming soon!).
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