The credit card issue is continuing to get analyzed five ways till Tuesday. If you didn’t read my roundup last week, please read Baker’s Reward This first and you’ll understand this remark. This week Matt Jabs at Debt Free Adventure wrote Credit Card Rewards? Rethink Your Returns. Matt starts by putting people into two camps, Camp Rewards and Camp Avoid. I’d suggest there’s a third camp, Camp Convenience. But I understand he wanted to keep it simple, and just name the Pro and Con groups. As with Baker’s post, I can respectfully disagree and at the same time complement a writer on his the excellent way he gets his point across.
In a post taking the opposite view, How To Use A Credit Card For Protection, MLR of My Life ROI mentions rewards, but also discusses two other important perks, extended warranty and chargeback protection. Whatever side you are on, be aware of what you gain or lose by choosing as you do.
On a lighter note, Green Panda Treehouse answers How Much Life Insurance Should You Have? A good start to understanding your needs. Better to read this and do the math before it’s too late, and you leave your family unprotected.
Financial Samurai offers a cleverly titled Party Like It’s 1999! 10 Takeaways From This Recession, a very thoughtful post on what he learned not just in the past 18 months but over the decade for the fact that the Dow is where it was exactly ten years ago. I did leave a comment pointing out that the Dow index does not include dividends, so 10,000 today is not quite flat to 10,000 ten years ago, but there does seem to be a psychological impact looking as this number.
Trent at The Simple Dollar sets us straight with Passing the Blame: Some Thoughts on the 401(k) Crisis. There has been much talk about how 401(k)s have failed investors. Trent offers a different take, the 401(k) is not an investment to be labeled good or bad, it’s only a shell to hold one’s investments. Those who haven’t learned to manage their own money (or sought advice if this is beyond them) need to accept responsibility for themselves. The contents of one’s retirment portfolio should reflect their own needs and risk tolerance.
On Good Financial Cents, Jeff Rose hosts a guest post from Peter Montoya, Why You Should Keep Contributing to Your 401k. This article is a great overview of the benefits you’d miss out on if you choose to walk away from this retirement account option. Good advice, don’t miss out.
Last today, Baker’s Stop Timing Markets was excellent viewing, yes viewing, he’s trying to offer a video post every so often, it may settle to one video per week. The title itself was misleading, it was more of a discussion of the obsession over Dow 10,000 and how the number itself is pretty meaningless. I agree with his conclusion, and no, there’s no trade or reallocation I plan to do based on this meaningless milestone.
I continue to enjoy the analysis of so many people. It’s a refreshing break from the pros on TV, magazines, or web, and they frequently offer insight the pros simply miss. A great week, it was.
Joe
Jeff Rose is right about not stopping contributing to a 401k, but his advice to continue investing in equity funds is dumb. Each dollar may be buying more shares, but as the market falls, so does the value of those shares. One’s much better off by investing in bond or even money-market funds and weathering out a downfall. Even if one misses the uptick by a couple of months, he’d be better off getting into equities only then, most likely buying many more shares than by doing what Jeff Rose advised. Besides, it’s far better to miss out on potential gains than to realize losses.
Cheers.
(To any non-regular reader: Augustine is one of my most helpful, insightful readers, and while I don’t always agree with his conclusions, his opinion will always be welcome here.)
Hi Joe – Thanks for the mention. I just got the pingback for some reason. Happy Thanksgiving! Sam-urai
You as well. Thanks!