In late 2017, I was tasked with building Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) portfolios for Plancorp. To be honest, I was initially less than thrilled; my past experiences with these types of portfolios were not necessarily positive. Read more…
How You Can Benefit from a Down Market Using an Employer Stock Purchase Plan
An ESPP (short for Employer Stock Purchase Plan) is a super valuable benefit offered by your company that allow you to purchase your company stock at a discount. With the recent drop in the US stock market however, you might find that the price of your company shares is now below even the Read more…
It's Not Free: Why You Need to Take a Closer Look at Commission-Free Trading
On October 7th, Charles Schwab started offering commission-free trading. TD Ameritrade nearly fell over themselves to follow suit and match their competitor, but neither brokerage was the first to make this offer to their customers. Vanguard, J.P. Morgan, and Interactive Brokers all beat them to Read more…
Asset Allocation
Asset allocation is the most important decision a long-term investor makes, and it’s one of the few things in the world of investing that is fully within your control. A famous paper published 1986 determined that asset allocation explains 93.6% of variation in portfolio returns. It’s worth noting Read more…
Time Beats Timing
It’s tempting to think about the possibility of buying and selling at just the right moment. Here’s a dirty little secret that most of the investment industry doesn’t want you to know: Time is more important than timing in investment success. Read more…
3(21) or 3(38): A Guide for Business Owners
Plancorp has worked with many business owners over the years to improve their corporate retirement plans. We have rarely come across a business owner who wanted more liability on their plate. Unfortunately, business owners frequently retain more than their fair share of legal liability—without even Read more…
Going Global with Your Portfolio
If you’re like me, the wrap of last month’s Olympic games left you wondering: What do I watch on TV now? The global competition gave us all new respect for how much time and dedication Olympic athletes put in for the games, a sense of inspiration for the next generation, and a view into how global Read more…
How to Prepare for a Market Downturn
One of the first things to accept as an investor is that you will occasionally lose money – sometimes a lot of money – on the way to earning a decent return in stocks. The market will take unpredictable twists and turns throughout your lifetime. Read more…
Why Market Prediction Is Harder than You Think
Imagine The Wall Street Journal ran a contest for its subscribers in which each subscriber viewed 100 photos of various men and women. To participate in the contest, each subscriber must pick the six most attractive people. The subscriber that choses the photos voted for most often will win $1 Read more…
The Collective Knowledge of Markets
Meet Penelope the cow. NPR’s Planet Money asked the internet how much Penelope weighed and got 17,205 responses. The average of all the responses was 1,287 pounds and the actual weight was 1,355 pounds. The average was off by only five percent. This experiment, which was originally conducted in Read more…
