Investments Overview

Broadly diversified indexed mutual funds minimize investment costs, including tax costs.
Buying and holding a chosen mix of investments allows them to grow and further reduces investment costs
Owning the right investments in the right “sites” or type of accounts reduces income tax costs.
No sales commissions frees me to select the best investments for you.
In my personal investing, I have owned Vanguard mutual funds for more than 30 years, because they are more predictable, lower cost and thus more effective.

Common stocks – Stock is the backbone of most investment programs because it has a long-term, much higher rate of return and ability to grow through compounding than other investments. But about one year in three, never knowable in advance, stocks go down in value not up. Jeremy Siegel, in Stocks for the Long Run, found that stock increases in value by 6.7% PLUS inflation in an average year.
Bonds – Bonds provide more stability of return, but a lower average level of return.
Money markets – Money market balances provide even more stability and store of shorter term value, but provide little return on investment.
Mutual funds vs. ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) – Mutual funds are almost one century old. Index funds, founded in the 1980s, generally provide even more diversification and at a lower cost. ETFs, considerably newer, may allow us to further reduce our investment costs, including income tax costs.

Every individual’s or family’s investments ought to fit them and ought to fit together. Some investments are better if owned in tax-deferred accounts (401(k), IRAs, Roth accounts) and others are best owned in regular, currently taxed accounts. My CPA background and decades of personal investment experience equips me to assist you to choose and continue to own investments with the best chance of meeting your financial goals.
For continuing investment management clients, I assist with 401(k) choices without charge to allow those investments, too, to be part of an integrated whole.
Diversification is a Must. Each of us ought to own a broadly diversified set of investments. With broad diversification, you give up the change of “making a killing” in return for not being killed!