The Weak vs. Strong Dollar Debate

The Weak vs. Strong Dollar Debate

The Dollar has been all over the news recently since it is currently extremely weak versus other world currencies. But what does that really mean? When I was new in the industry

The History of the 401k Plan

The History of the 401k Plan

2010 Taxes and Financial Planning

2010 Taxes and Financial Planning

$8000 Tax Credit Extended, Unemployment Rises over 10%

$8000 Tax Credit Extended, Unemployment Rises over 10%

2009 Year End Planning and Tax Tips

2009 Year End Planning and Tax Tips

Supreme Court to Decide on Mutual Fund Fee Limits

Supreme Court to Decide on Mutual Fund Fee Limits

Retirement Distributions | Interest Only Income Strategies

Retirement Distributions | Interest Only Income Strategies

Rules for Owning Company Stock in your 401k Plan

Rules for Owning Company Stock in your 401k Plan

IRA Distributions for 1st Time Home Buyers

IRA Distributions for 1st Time Home Buyers

Don't Drop Life Insurance Policies During Recession

Don't Drop Life Insurance Policies During Recession

Social Security Latest Victim of Economic Crisis

Social Security Latest Victim of Economic Crisis

Gold Coins as an Investment? Learn Gold Strategies

Gold Coins as an Investment? Learn Gold Strategies

401(k) Retirement Accounts had a Tough 2008

401(k) Retirement Accounts had a Tough 2008

403b Plan Advantages, Details, and Disadvantages

403b Plan Advantages, Details, and Disadvantages

U.S. August Unemployment Rates by State

U.S. August Unemployment Rates by State

Filing for Divorce Advice | Financial Planning Mistakes

Filing for Divorce Advice | Financial Planning Mistakes

Great Stock Market Crashes | 2007-09 Subprime Mortgage Crisis

Great Stock Market Crashes | 2007-09 Subprime Mortgage Crisis

Your Money: 401(k) Withdrawls

Your Money: 401(k) Withdrawls

Shared via AddThis

Financial Planning for New Parents

Financial Planning for New Parents

Great Stock Market Crashes | The Dot-Com Bubble

Great Stock Market Crashes | The Dot-Com Bubble

InvestingTopix - Your Source for Social News and Networking

InvestingTopix - Your Source for Social News and Networking

Great Stock Market Crashes | Black Monday in 1987

Great Stock Market Crashes | Black Monday in 1987: "Black Monday in 1986, the market crash. While we have become used to market volatility, Black Monday in 1987 remains the granddaddy of them all."

Unprecedented Roth IRA Conversion Opportunity in 2010

Unprecedented Roth IRA Conversion Opportunity in 2010: "The financial adviser’s role in determining whether and how much of an individual’s retirement assets should be converted"

Stock Market Crash of 1929

http://www.erollover.com/blog/stock-market-crashes/great-stock-market-crashes-the-crash-of-1929


This eRollover blog entry is the first of 5 entries that will go over the most painful stock market crashes in the past 100 years. History is usually the best indicator of how fragile the Economy and Stock Market can be at times. However, these lessons can be quickly forgotten, as greed tends to make the memory very short indeed.
The Stock Market Crash of 1929, and Beginning of the Great Depression
When: October 21, 24 and 29, 1929
Stock Market Crash Statistics: A string of terrible days led to a more than 40% drop in the market from the beginning of September 1929 to the end of October 1929. In fact, the market continued to decline until July 1932 when it bottomed out, down nearly 90% from its 1929 highs.

Learn about Initial Public Stock Offerings or IPO s

Learn about Initial Public Stock Offerings or IPO s: "The Initial Public Offering or IPO for a new public company is the first opportunity for the investing public to buy shares or stock in a company."

Retirement Assets Total $13.4 Trillion in First Quarter

Retirement Assets Total $13.4 Trillion in First Quarter: "Americans held $13.4 trillion in retirement assets at the end of the first quarter of 2009, accounting for 33 percent of household financial assets"

How Key Man Life Insurance can Save your Business

How Key Man Life Insurance can Save your Business: "Key person insurance, also called, especially formerly, key man insurance or sometimes keyman insurance, is an important form of business insurance."

Historical Returns of the SP 500

According to Standard and Poor's, the dividends were responsible for 44% of the total return over the last 80 years of the SP 500 index. The SP 500

SP 500, Standard and Poors, Stock Market Returns, Dividend Returns, Stock Market

SP-500 Standard-and-Poors Stock-Market-Returns Dividend-Returns Stock-Market

http://www.erollover.com/blog/sp-500/the-sp-500-historical-rates-of-return

Are 401(k) Fees Eating Away at your Retirement?

Are 401(k) Fees Eating Away at your Retirement?: "Many investors are convinced that they pay no fees in their 401(k), or other retirement account. However, 401(k) research firms paint a much different"

Stock Market News, Business News, Financial, Earnings, World

Jobless Economic Recovery in 2009-2010 a Reality?

by Mike R, 1 minute ago
Post a CommentRead More from This Author »Report Abuse
Are we Headed towards a Jobless Economic Recovery in 2009-2010?
By Mike Rowan, www.erollover.com

There is a new term that is popping up in the news. A jobless economic recovery is quickly becoming a new catch phrase that is being used by the talking heads in the media.

Economic Recoveries are usually a good thing. However, this is not necessarily the case with a jobless recovery. A jobless recovery, would literally be where corporations right the ship from an earnings perspective, but fail to put a priority on hiring due to capital restraints. As a result, corporate conditions would improve, but the number of people without work would still be painful.

According to Wikipedia, “A jobless recovery or jobless growth is a phrase used by economists to describe the recovery from a recession which does not produce strong growth in employment. The phrase originated in the early 1990s in the United States, to describe the economic recovery at the end of President George H.W. Bush’s term; it came back into use during the early 2000s.

Read more Here

Online Brokerages Definitely Don t Need a Bailout

Online Brokerages Definitely Don t Need a Bailout: "For a smaller Internet amp; Online brokerages, the economic slowdown, and collapse of the financial markets has set off a tremendous influx of growth"

Dow Jones above 9000? Various Stages of Retirement Denial

Dow Jones above 9000? Various Stages of Retirement Denial: "However, after dropping down to 6440, the Dow Jones Industrial average is back over 9000. Twelve months ago, you would have thought that we were crazy"

2009 Federal Income Tax Brackets

2009 Federal Income Tax Brackets: "Federal Income Taxes are usually a heated topic on both sides of the aisle. Filing for Federal Income Taxes in 2009 has some tax policy changes"

Roth 401k Plans compared to the Traditional 401k

Roth 401k Plans compared to the Traditional 401k: "Roth 401k plans are a relatively new retirement option. However, like most retirement plans, Roth 401k Plans are a great fit for retirement accounts"

Social Media | Using Twitter with your 401k Planning

Social Media | Using Twitter with your 401k Planning: "Twitter has been all the rage recently. As a microblogging service limited to 140 characters, Twitter is a quick way to find financial information"

401k Concerns | Is my 401k Protected?

401k Concerns | Is my 401k Protected?: "Your 401k investments are protected. Your company employs plan trustees, administrators, and service providers-who may be fiduciaries."

Variable and Fixed Annuity Sales Statistics

Variable and Fixed Annuity Sales Statistics: "There are several types of annuities. Deferred annuities accumulate assets over a long period of time, with withdrawals as a single sum"

How are annuities different from life insurance?

How are annuities different from life insurance?: "Talk to the agent who sells you your life, health, auto or business insurance—he or she may either sell disability coverage or will be able to refer you to an agent who does."

A 2nd Government Stimulus Plan? Are you Kidding?

A 2nd Government Stimulus Plan? Are you Kidding?: "Wow. Stimulus Package number 2? You know when after 6 months in office, and passing a nearly 800 billion dollar stimulus package we may be in trouble"

Eight Reasons Why a 401k Is Right for You

Eight Reasons Why a 401k Is Right for You: "A 401k plan is a retirement savings program provided by your employer in which your retirement savings grow tax free"

Lifetime Annuities | Understanding Income Annuity Policies

Lifetime Annuities | Understanding Income Annuity Policies: "You can think of a lifetime annuity as investment vehicle that functions as a personal pension plan providing income for life."

Disclosure of 401k Expenses and Fees Closer to Reality

Disclosure of 401k Expenses and Fees Closer to Reality: "401k plan participants shouldn’t celebrate quite yet, but they may have full disclosure of their retirement plan fees in the not too distant future."

Capital Losses | Save Money on Bad Investments

Capital Losses | Save Money on Bad Investments: "A capital loss is a decrease in the value of an asset below its purchase price. Capital loss reduces a taxpayer s income tax. Recent Stock Market"

What about my Healthcare Benefits during Retirement?

What about my Healthcare Benefits during Retirement?: "Health and long-term care costs during retirement are offered in the hope that it will be of assistance as retiree’s make healthcare benefit decisions"

Life Insurance: How Much Coverage should you Buy?

Life Insurance: How Much Coverage should you Buy?: "It is important that your life insurance education includes a life insurance coverage analysis. www Life Insurance com calculators"

Obama s Universal Healthcare Insurance Plan

Obama s Universal Healthcare Insurance Plan: "Democrats argue that healthcare is a right to the masses, while Republicans have taken the stance that a mandated government run health insurance law"

Asset Allocation | Investment Rebalancing amp; Asset Alloca

Asset Allocation | Investment Rebalancing amp; Asset Alloca: "Determining the appropriate asset allocation and rebalancing model for a financial goal is a complicated task. Asset Allocation and Rebalancing"

Asset Allocation | Learn about Asset Groups amp; Categories

Asset Allocation | Learn about Asset Groups amp; Categories: "Your Asset Allocation, Investment Categories, and Risk Allocations. Learn about asset allocation strategy for each asset groups investment category."

Small Cap Stocks and Mutual Funds

http://www.erollover.com/education/investment-accounts-section/21-cat-mutualfunds/127-small-cap-stocks-and-mutual-funds


Small Cap Stocks and Mutual Funds
Finding a Companies Market Cap
You can find the market cap of any stock reported on most quotes you find on the Internet such as Yahoo! Finance. Simply enter a symbol and the market cap is among the data reported.
Investors categorize companies by market cap and place them under one of these labels – although there is not universal agreement on the exact cutoffs.

The eRollover Layoff Tracker | Latest Unemployment Statistics

Our filing for unemployment benefits and layoff tracker started watching layoff announcements last year. The unemployment rate and company layoffs

unemployment benefits, unemployment rate, filing for unemployment, job unemployment, unemployment the

unemployment-benefits unemployment-rate filing-for-unemployment job-unemployment unemployment-the

http://www.erollover.com/blog/unemployment-the/the-erollover-layoff-tracker-latest-unemployment-statistics

Choices as the Beneficiary of an Inherited Traditional IRA?

Choices as the Beneficiary of an Inherited Traditional IRA?: "If you inherit a traditional IRA, you are called a beneficiary. A beneficiary can be any person or entity the owner chooses to receive the benefits of the IRA"

Rules for an IRA Plan Transfer or Traditional IRA Rollover

Rules for an IRA Plan Transfer or Traditional IRA Rollover: "Learn about retirement Rules for an IRA Transfer or Rollover Traditional IRA Plan. When planning a tax free rollover into a traditional IRA retirement"

Annuities, Retirement Income Annuities, and 401k Plans

Annuities, Retirement Income Annuities, and 401k Plans: "Given the stock market’s volatility, a number of 401k plan sponsors are seriously discussing adding an income or deferred annuity option to their 401k plans"

Introduction to Traditional IRA Accounts

Introduction to Traditional IRA Accounts: "The Traditional IRA or Individual Retirement Account or original IRA. The original IRA is a simplified employee pension plan or SEP IRA retirement."

Roth IRA Rules, Contribution Limits, Roth Conversion Details

Roth IRA Rules, Contribution Limits, Roth Conversion Details: "Learn about Roth IRA Plans, Roth IRA Contribution Limits, Tax Deductible Status, Roth IRA Conversion Rules, Roth IRA Rollovers, and Other Roth Details"

What is a 457 Retirement Plan?

What is a 457 Retirement Plan?: "457 retirement plans operate similarly to a 401k or 403b plan. The key difference in a governmental or non governmental 457 plan are retirement limits"

GM bankruptcy | Status of Retirement and Health Benefits

Although General Motors Corp. has entered bankruptcy protection, defined benefit pension plans and health packages remain ongoing under GM sponsorship

http://www.erollover.com/blog/gm-bankruptcy/gm-bankruptcy-status-of-retirement-and-health-benefits

http://www.erollover.com/education/retirement-accounts-section/403b/28-403b-rollover-to-ira
When person leaves a company, they rollover their 403b retirement, into a Rollover IRA, or Roth IRA Rollover. 403b retirement planning to IRA accounts

The Dummies Guide to the GM Bankruptcy

401k Planning, Retirement, and Divorce

401k Planning, Retirement, and Divorce: "What happens to your 401k and retirement planning if you become divorced? In a divorce, your former spouse may receive 401k and retirement assets."

All About Annuities

http://www.erollover.com/education/investment-accounts-section/annuities/168-annuity-insurance-life

Stretch IRA Plans | A Powerful Financial Planning Tool

How you could make some minor changes to your current IRA beneficiary designations to enhance your legacy. The key is understanding that IRA rules

http://www.erollover.com/blog/ira-distributions/stretch-ira-plans-a-powerful-financial-planning-tool

eRollover: Planning 401k, 403b, IRA Rollovers amp; Retireme

eRollover: Planning 401k, 403b, IRA Rollovers amp; Retireme

401k Rollovers, 401k Plans, amp; IRA Rollovers

401k Rollovers, 401k Plans, amp; IRA Rollovers

Things to consider before you Rollover your 401(k) to an IRA

Things to consider before you Rollover your 401(k) to an IRA: "Usually, upon leaving a job, you should rollover your 401(k) to an IRA. Here’s how to decide if a 401(k) rollover to an IRA is right for you."

Is Working on www.erollover.com

$8,000 Tax Credit | Mortgage Rates Drop | Prices still falling

By Mike Rowan, www.erollover.com

The Real Estate market continues to be a driving force in undermining the economy, as politicians hope and pray the the stimulus package will provide some eventual relief. Here is a rundown of the top news stories in real estate.

First-time buyers get $8,000 tax credit in stimulus bill

Home buyers who hoped for a $15,000 tax credit to buy a new home, as promised by the Senate, will be disappointed. A proposed $35 billion credit to support home sales was jettisoned in favor of a more modest $2 billion to $3 billion provision.

The proposal would eliminate the repayment requirement in an existing tax credit for first-time home buyers, and raise the credit to $8,000 from $7,500. Congressional aides cautioned Wednesday that the credit’s size was still subject to negotiation.

Tim Shapleigh, a prospective home buyer, stated, “With all of the spending in the 2009 Stimulus Bill, I was quite hopeful that significant incentives for first time home buyers would be a priority. I guess that just isn’t the case.”

Foreclosures Push Home Prices to 5-Year Low

Prices of existing U.S. single-family homes dropped a record 12.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to the lowest level since 2003, the National Association of Realtors said on Thursday.
The NAR said distressed sales, which includes foreclosures, accounted for 45 percent of transactions in that quarter, dragging down the national median price of existing single-family homes to $180,100.
The median is where half sold for more and half sold for less, and it was the lowest since the second quarter of 2003 when it was $177,900.
At the same time, existing-home sales rose in only six states from the fourth quarter of 2007, the NAR said.
In the fourth quarter, prices for single-family homes declined in 134 out of 153 metropolitan statistical areas from the same period in 2007, pulled down by active sales at the lower end that were driven by foreclosures, the NAR said.
The NAR said one metropolitan area was unchanged and 18 metropolitan areas reported price gains. The NAR’s data on metro area home prices dates back to 1979.

30 Year Fixed Mortgage Rates Drop to 5.16%

Rates on 30-year-fixed mortgages fell this week, offering homeowners a chance to refinance their loans, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 5.16 percent this week from 5.25 percent last week. A year ago, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.72 percent. Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are almost 1.5 percentage points below last year’s peak set in late July, offering many homeowners an incentive to refinance.

The new rate translates into a monthly payment savings of about $188 on a $200,000 loan.
Average rates for 30-year-fixed mortgages had been rising since hitting a record low of 4.96 percent a month ago, a decline attributed to the Federal Reserve’s move to buy $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities to spur lending by banks.

Spending cuts in the 2009 Stimulus Package

Whether we like it or not, the 2009 Stimulus Package has been accepted by both the Senate and the House, and will be heading our way soon. A coalition of Democrats and some Republicans reached a compromise that trimmed billions in spending from an earlier version of the Senate economic stimulus bill. We are still wondering where the government is going to come up with the money to pay this, but what you see is what you get.

This list, from a Democratic leadership aide, a list of some programs that have been cut, either entirely or partially:

Partially cut:

• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)

Fully eliminated

• $55 million for historic preservation
• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation
• $100 million for distance learning
• $98 million for school nutrition
• $50 million for aquaculture
• $2 billion for broadband
• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $50 million for detention trustee
• $25 million for Marshalls Construction
• $300 million for federal prisons
• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program
• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program
• $10 million state and local law enforcement
• $50 million for NASA
• $50 million for aeronautics
• $50 million for exploration
• $50 million for Cross Agency Support
• $200 million for National Science Foundation
• $100 million for science
• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees
• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration
• $89 million General Services Administration operations
• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security
• $200 million Transportation Security Administration
• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $20 million for working capital fund
• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start
• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity
• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants
• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind)
• $16 billion for school construction
• $3.5 billion for higher education construction
• $1.25 billion for project based rental
• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization
• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing
• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants

Dollar Cost Averaging | Benefiting your IRA, 401k, and Retirement

Dollar Cost Averaging | Benefiting your IRA, 401k, and Retirement

With the recent turmoil in the financial market this is a good time to look at Dollar cost averaging. The strategy is one that helps you actually benefit from market volatility as we see continuing in 2009.

You actually are better off with wild swings in stock prices, when you dollar cost average, than if they just went up .8% every single month (if both ended with stocks at the same price 20 years later). Really the wilder the better (the limit is essentially the limit at which the economy was harmed by the wild swings and people decided they didn’t want to take risk and make investments.

Here are two examples, if you invest $1,000 in a mutual fund and the price goes up every year (for this example the prices over 20 years: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 33, 36,39) you would end up with $40,800 and you would have invested $20,000. The mutual fund went from $10 a share to $39 over that period (which is a 7% return compounded annually for the share price). If you have the same final value but instead of the price going up every year the price was volatile (for example: 10, 11, 7, 12, 16, 18, 20, 13, 10, 16, 20, 15, 24,29, 36, 27, 24, 34, 39) you end up with more most often (in this example: $45,900).

You could actually end up with less if the price shot up well above the final price very early on and then stayed there and then dropped in the last few years. As you get close to retirement (10 years to start paying close attention) you need to adopt a strategy that is very focused on reducing risk of investment declines for your entire portfolio.

The reason you end up with more money is that when the price is lower you buy more shares. Dollar cost averaging does not guaranty a good return. If the investment does poorly over the entire period you will still suffer. But if the investment does well over the long term the added volatility will add to your return. By buying a consistent amount each year (or month…) you will buy more share when prices are low, you will buy fewer shares when prices are high and the effect will be to add to your total return.

Now if you could time the market and sell all your shares when prices peaked and buy again when prices were low you could have fantastic returns. The problem is essentially no-one has been able to do so over the long term. Trying to time the market fails over and over for huge numbers of investors. Dollar cost averaging is simple and boring but effective as long as you chose a good long term investment vehicle.

Investing to your IRA every year is one great way to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. Adding to your 401(k) retirement plan at work is another (and normally this will automatically dollar cost average for you).

Also, keep in mind that the BETA version is opening up next month for a few valued eRollover members to test. Make sure that you get a hold of your retirement!

Positioning your 401k or IRA for a Volatile Market

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to get a BETA code for our new account aggregator when it becomes availiable!

Positioning your 401k or IRA for a Volatile Market

As I write this, the 2009 Stock Market is not looking to make any new friends in the 401k and IRA community. The DJIA is hovering right around 8000, and it looks like this recession is going to last longer than anticipated. Some pundits have said that it could be 2011 to see all of the economic stimulus finally work. We had the biggest Inauguration market drop in history when Barack Obama took the oath of office.

In the meantime, many investors are wondering, “What should I do during these difficult market times?” Many are even afraid to open their 401k statements for fear of the paper losses on hand.

Asset Allocation is a must for your 401k or IRA

I can’t stress enough that a proper asset allocation is vital for your 401k or other retirement plan. This limits your downside in volitale markets, and helps to position your 401k to rebound when the market decides that it doesn’t want to be in the 8000 range any longer. Here is a quote from the Washington Post that I found extremely troubling.

“A Washington Post piece today about Bernard Madoff says an AllianceBernstein survey showed nearly 40% of investors without an advisor didn’t have an approach for allocating and rebalancinginvestments. Some 55% of those people reported they never got around to doing it!

Most startling: 70% of investors, including those with an adviser, said they’re prone to change their hairstyle more frequently than rebalance their portfolios!”

Your 401k or IRA is not going to benefit from sticking your head in the sand. A smart investor MUST identify the funds that are not performing well and get rid of them. This helps you to MAKE MORE MONEY in the long term. Please feel free to use eRollover’s free asset allocator to review and set up your portfolio by clicking here.

Pretty amazing stats and fodder. eRollover’s account aggregator is coming very soon, and will it be simple enough to use eRollover for many of these 401k and Retirement needs. Make sure that you sign up today to become a Beta tester when this feature becomes available. After all, we want to provide you with the tools to “Help you achieve your Retirement Dream!”

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