I am not nor do I claim to be a skilled investor. I don’t analyze stocks, I don’t pay much attention to expense ratios, I don’t study trends or even read prospectuses. There is nothing I do that anyone else can’t do as well, probably better. 
That’s my point, investing for the future is possible for anyone at just about any income and skill level. In other words, there is no excuse. A minimal effort to learn the basics is sufficient. 

A recent post by Dick Quinn asked an important question in personal financial planning – “do we understand our risk tolerance”. The post linked to an investment risk tolerance assessment. I took the assessment twice and received a similar score each time – an average/moderate tolerance for investment risk. I’m wasn’t surprised by the score, especially now that I’m retired.
Risk tolerance describes our “psychological willingness to take on risk”. Although there are likely some inherent aspects to our risk tolerance,

I remember when I managed 401k plans and conducted educational programs for employees trying to discuss risk tolerance. I concluded over the years few people actually understood their own risk tolerance, including me. It was easy to claim being willing to take risk when things were going well, but that confidence quickly disappeared if their account dropped three days in a row. 
To help, we built, with “expert” help, three funds – a mix of the mutual funds and Guaranteed Investment Certificate or Contract (GIC) offered by the plan.

I was recently informed that I will be a non-spousal beneficiary of an Inherited Roth IRA.  My understanding is that I will have no required RMDs, but will be required to empty the account by the end of a ten-year period. I will have no need for these funds for that period so I will let them remain untouched until I’m required to take a total withdrawal.  But how should they best be invested over that ten-year certain period?

MICHAEL BURRY IS a hedge fund manager who gained fame betting against the housing market in 2008. When that market collapsed, Burry made a fortune, and that cemented his reputation as a market seer. Burry was later portrayed as the central character in Michael Lewis’s The Big Short.
But in the years since, Burry’s predictions haven’t turned out as well. Five years ago, he spooked index-fund investors when he argued that they might have trouble accessing their funds.

I had read recently in the WSJ about an upcoming change in how brokerage cash is managed by Fidelity.
Once this change is effective, the cash balances held in your core transaction account option will be redeemed, and the proceeds of that redemption will be reinvested in FCASH. Any interest paid in your core transaction account on or after this change is effective will be paid in cash and reinvested in FCASH. Further, any other cash in your account will also be invested in FCASH.

After inspecting the Hokusai exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins Museum (excellent btw), my good friend and I retired to a nearby dive bar called Chez Charlie. For anonymity’s sake, let’s just call him “Chuck.”
It was there over a can of Hamm beer, Chuck and I discussed the finer points of Japanese asceticism (where do you keep all your stuff?), the Chiefs’ prospects for a three-peat (good, but hopeful that the playoff bye week will be very restorative) and that Chuck was unsure what to do with a recent inheritance.

Some good news: Today, there’s no excuse not to get started as an investor.
That wasn’t true in 1986, when I arrived in New York from London at age 23. Back then, Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price demanded $2,500 to open a mutual-fund account, far more than I could afford. Meanwhile, Vanguard Group required $3,000, and typically still does.
What to do? I got my start by purchasing six individual stocks through the National Association of Investors Corp.

AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR, I watch the hilarious short YouTube clip by personal-finance author JL Collins. If you aren’t around small children and can handle liberal use of America’s favorite four-letter word, check it out. Some may recognize it as a parody of actor John Goodman’s soliloquy from the film The Gambler starring Mark Wahlberg.
The clip, however, is more than just entertaining. Its content is what keeps me and, judging from the half-million views,

WHEN I STARTED learning about investing, I stumbled upon a book at my library that immediately grabbed my attention: The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing by Paul B. Farrell. A portfolio championed by the book consisted of just two mutual funds—one stock index fund and one bond index fund, with 50% of your portfolio invested in each.
With only two choices to make, decision-making becomes far more straightforward. Farrell’s suggested 50-50 split simplifies the process even further.

LOOKING TO CONDUCT a review of your investments? Below is a five-point end-of-year housekeeping checklist.
Suitability. When it comes to the world of investments, the most common types of assets are stocks and bonds—but they aren’t the only ones. There are alternatives like real estate and commodities and, of course, there’s bitcoin, which has more than doubled this year. Which of these is right for you? Since everyone is different, the first litmus test is to assess the suitability of the types of assets you own.

Oh, index funds have a tale to tell,
Of how they invest and invest quite well.
They’re cheap, they’re easy, they’re widely adored,
But here’s the twist that can’t be ignored:
They lean on the work of those active and wise,
The managers, experts, with sharp, watchful eyes.
While index funds follow the market’s parade,
It’s active decisions that have the path laid.
Active managers toil, they measure, they scheme,
Allocating the dollars, fulfilling the dream.

THE STOCK MARKET HAS been one of my life’s enduring interests. No, it’s not because I try to pick market-beating investments. I gave up on that nonsense more than three decades ago.
Rather, I’m fascinated by the way we humans engage with this maddening market that promises both riches and peril, and which seems both ruthlessly efficient and utterly nuts. What have I learned from a lifetime of following the stock market? The sad truth is,

MORGAN HOUSEL, author of The Psychology of Money, once made this observation: “Before the 1700s, the richest members of society had among the shortest lives—meaningfully below that of the overall population.”
It was counterintuitive, but Housel cited a hypothesis, developed by historian T.H. Hollingsworth, to make sense of it: “The best explanation is that the rich were the only ones who could afford all the quack medicines and sham doctors who peddled hope but increased your odds of being poisoned.”
Housel then added this thought: “I would bet good money the same happens today with investing advice.” Wealthy folks,

Generally it’s reported that the more an investor makes changes to their portfolio the worse their returns are. I am guilty of this as I make several changes per year.
Morningstar’s most recent Mind the Gap report for 2024 reports the following:
We estimate that the average dollar invested in US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds earned 6.3% per year over the 10 years ended Dec. 31, 2023. That is approximately 1.1% per year less than the average fund’s total return (of 7.4%) over the same period assuming an initial lump-sum purchase.