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The Certified Financial Planning Board of Standards and CFA Institute both are committed to investor education, including providing information to help consumers choose a financial advisor.  The CFA Institute has published an article titled "What Every Invstor Should Know," while the CFP Board of Standards offers its own brochure titled "10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Financial Planner."  While the CFA Institute's publication is more comprehensive, the CFP Board's "10 Questions" is a more p...

From the State of California website: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared April 2010 as California Financial Literacy Month   "California maintains one of the largest and most prosperous economies in the world, and our financial well-being is strongly tied to that of the rest of the country and the entire world. But our state is only as strong as our citizens, which is why it is important for all of us to know how best to save, spend and invest our money. Making wise financial decis...

First take on the Employment Report - 04/02/2010 from Morningstar....

In the "Your Money Matters" column on the Fox Business website, Gail Buckner explains why the surtax on investment income resulting from the passage of the Health Care Act creates an additional reason for high income taxpayers to convert their traditional IRA's to ROTH IRAs this year. She explains a second-order effect of this new marginal tax, related to the timing of IRA withdrawals, by using an example of two married taxpayers, each with $200,000 of assets in an IRA. One account is an ordin...

Evaluating Roth IRA Conversion The Wall Street Journal recently called 2010 the Year of the Roth IRA, because of the new conversion opportunity that became available to higher-income taxpayers at the start of this year.  But as with many investment decisions that require consideration of pre-tax and after-tax returns, the costs and benefits of Roth conversion may not be obvious to most investors.  A number of factors should be considered in evaluating whether to convert to a Roth:&nbs...

Morningstar recently posted a video clip from an interview with Roger Ibbotson, during their conference on asset allocation, where he explained why diversification did not fail.  While stock markets all moved together, cash and bonds (especially treasuries) performed well.  Video is on the next page....