Mutual fund cash flows show investors piling into bond funds despite warnings of a developing bond bubble. Are you unsure of how bond funds work? Could you use a brush-up on bond strategies? Are you, like many investors, scrambling for extra yield?
This Saturday, at the monthly meeting of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) Baltimore Chapter meeting, Ed Gray of ScottTrade Inc. will give a presentation on "Bond Basics." He will talk about types of bonds, bond laddering, bond ETFs, and even preferred stock.
Learning to manage one's investments is, I believe, one of the highest self-education paybacks available. For example, the typical advisor will charge between $10,000 and $20,000/year to manage $1 million. That's for one year. Do the math, and you can figure the cost over 20 or more years.
A useful step in learning how to manage one's investments is to attend meetings like the monthly meetings of the AAII. After one year or so, with the speakers on various topics and discussions with other do-it-yourself investors, you could very well be on your way to intelligently managing your own money.
The fact is that, with the direct contribution/401k movement, we have been put in charge of managing our own retirement funds. The choice is to pay dearly for having others do it for you or seek to learn to do it yourself.
This sounds like a a fabulous idea. I will have to check out my local AAII chapter once I finish moving. Thanks for sharing this, as these aren't typically the types of workshops that I attend.
ReplyDeleteHi Shawn,
ReplyDeleteI have found the presentations to be interesting and informative. The audience is usually a wide range of ages so you can get a perspective on the concerns and approaches of investors at various stages.
DIY