Jack Bogle has done more for investors than almost anyone. He popularized passive investing, and founded Vanguard. Everything he has done hasn’t happened by accident. When he talks about the financial services industry people should listen, and think carefully about what he says. He isn’t always right about everything, but he knows what he’s talking…

We spend a lot of time talking about the importance of diversification. When it comes to stocks, it’s foundational to our investment approach. Investing in a stock portfolio that isn’t properly diversified is like swimming with sharks without a shark cage. You can do it, but there are safer ways. But that’s stocks. Bonds are…

Before we can discuss bonds in depth, it is important that we establish a common understanding of what bonds are and how they work. As a starting point, a bond is a contractual obligation to make a series of specific payments on specific dates. Typically, this includes interest payments made on a semi-annual basis until…

This report features world capital market performance and a timeline of events for the last quarter. It begins with a global overview, then features the returns of stock and bond asset classes in the US and international markets. The report also illustrates the performance of globally diversified portfolios and features a topic of the quarter.…

Every financial plan is wrong. They’re all shots in the dark. It’s impossible to predict the future, and there’s an almost infinite number of moving parts that will impact your financial life. Also, even if you were to make the best predictions possible, your plan is out of date the instant you finish creating it.…

In addition to other methods we’ve discussed, a third type of variable spending model uses dynamic programming methods. These methods rely on complex computing power and mathematical equations to integrate spending and asset allocation decisions more completely over the life cycle. Dynamic programming provides a road map at each point in time for optimal spending and…