Articles (180)

Contribution limits for 2021 in some areas of retirement are rising. Meanwhile, others are staying the ...Read More

To prepare for the end-of-year filing crunch, we present our top recommendations to lower your tax ...Read More

New entrants into the field of systematic investing must look for ways to differentiate themselves. Impressive backtested performance is one way to stand out. But are these backtests robust? Are they likely to withstand the challenges of real-world implementation? Historical ...Read More

During any downtime in this holiday season, here are some quick ways to sharpen your finances heading into a new ...Read More

Here's a cheat sheet to help wade through your healthcare ...Read More

Key options exist for handling required minimum distributions (RMD), including tax rules impacting qualified charitable ...Read More

Determining the best use of these tax-friendly options can prove crucial to boosting your retirement ...Read More

IFA's stock and bond indexes kept gaining ground in the year's third quarter. Here's a breakdown of what took ...Read More

Climate scientists have identified greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as the largest contributor to global climate change.1 As a result, many investors are looking to reduce their emissions exposure through their portfolios and wondering if doing so would affect their expected ...Read More

As part of IFA's ongoing research series, we've put under our microscope Putnam's actively managed mutual ...Read More

How big of a difference can an objective set of professional eyes add to an investor's overall financial success outside of managing a portfolio? A new study takes a look at just that question. Instead of considering hypotheticals, however, this report goes directly to the ...Read More

Cash is a safe-haven for savers. But it can turn into a real drag in trying to reach your long-term investment goals. ...Read More

It’s probably not news to most value investors that the value premium has struggled over the past decade. What might be news is just how extreme an outlier recent value stock underperformance represents. The periodic returns for value versus growth in Exhibit 1 convey a ...Read More

At IFA, we've designed an alternative portfolio with a stock tilt to more profitable ...Read More

A top-heavy stock market with the largest 10 stocks accounting for over 20% of market capitalization and a marquee technology firm perched at No. 1? This sounds like a description of the current US stock market, dominated by Apple and the other FAANG stocks,1 but it is actually ...Read More

As part of our ongoing research into active managers, we put this insurance giant's funds under our ...Read More

I have been sheltering in place on a former dairy farm in rural New Hampshire—surrounded by more Scotch Highland cattle than people—and relying on my iPhone and Microsoft Surface Pro to keep in touch with the office via email and Zoom video. I haven’t sat in a ...Read More

To many people, the financial markets are nothing more than a giant casino where the odds are stacked against ...Read More

The job of a free-market is to set prices so investors are rewarded for the risk they ...Read More

If you have ever spent any time in a casino, it is likely that you have seen supposedly random events that appeared to be non-random. Perhaps the roulette wheel came up red seven times in a row, for example. If your reaction was to place a large bet on ...Read More

Figuring out a good Social Security benefits strategy can be a confusing and complex challenge. Here's how IFA can ...Read More

How did Fortune's "Ten Most Admired Companies" hold up over time compared to 10 index-based ...Read More

As part of IFA's ongoing research series, we've put under our microscope Great-West's active ...Read More

The story of how this insurance giant has grown involves two of history's most well-known ...Read More

The 'Oracle of Omaha' has led Berkshire Hathaway to prominence. But has the past 20 years been as ...Read More

Diversification is important not just in terms of investing, but also in developing a well-rounded and comprehensive financial ...Read More

Here's what the evidence shows about trying to chase returns over the past 10 ...Read More

Pundits on both sides of the political aisle keep trying to warn investors of potentially dire ...Read More

A sound evidence-based investment process needs to consider how market volatility can be used to reduce your ...Read More

Stocks staged a dramatic second quarter reversal, highlighting the need for investors to remain ...Read More

Financial research abounds. At least one fund company, though, is trying to highlight more robust ...Read More

Many plan participants may not fully understand all the advantages their employerprovided retirement plan provides. Here are three aspects of a retirement plan that may surprise ...Read More

More complaints about Merrill Lynch again highlight need to work with fiduciaries, not ...Read More

This popular tech tool, which clients can utilize for free, is part of an enhanced IFA financial planning ...Read More

The U.S. retirement plan marketplace keeps evolving. Just ask Shareen Balkey, who sees such changes in 401(k) plans and the like as boosting the need for true fiduciaries to help both plan participants and ...Read More

Dimensional's co-head of research explains how best to track and quantify the premium investors gain from tilting to value ...Read More

Once in the dear dead days beyond recall, an out-of-town visitor was being shown the wonders of the New York financial district. When the party arrived at the Battery, one of his guides indicated some handsome ships riding at anchor. He said, “Look, those are the ...Read More

The list of misdeeds involves brokers from Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and ...Read More

It's only natural to worry that daily stock slides will reoccur. Here's a look at how markets have actually ...Read More

Experts warn that cryptorcurrencies like Bitcoin bring out investors’ worst behavior, even more so than actively trading in ...Read More

How to do something different, without doing something ...Read More

At least in theory, tax code changes could open new doors for investors with their traditional IRA ...Read More

I was trained as a journalist to approach any type of speculative claim with a high degree of skepticism. But it took years of sifting through a wealth of academic research and market evidence for me to finally make a career change. In all honesty, it's just become too apparent ...Read More

Staying invested, whether through small-cap or blue-chip stocks, correlates to greater portfolio ...Read More

“Reversion to the mean,” Jack Bogle once said, “is the iron rule of financial markets.” And if you understand nothing else about how investing works, grasping this one simple concept will give you a better chance of succeeding at it than supposedly more ...Read More

As part of IFA's ongoing research series, we've put under our microscope Principal Financial ...Read More

Protecting valuable personal assets is a strategy that experts warn many investors might not be fully ...Read More

 In the first quarter of 2020, investors were reminded of the importance of understanding how markets really ...Read More

Embarking on a financial plan is like sailing around the world. The voyage won’t always go to plan, and there’ll be rough seas. But the odds of reaching your destination increase greatly if you are prepared, flexible, patient, and well-advised. A mistake many ...Read More

The CARES Act creates new flexibility for 401(k) and 403(b) savers. But savings and tax nuances ...Read More

With a proposed merger looming, how has Legg Mason's funds lineup performed as a standalone active ...Read More

Dave Goetsch, who worked as an executive producer of TV's "The Big Bang Theory," offers some investment insights. ...Read More

It might not seem intuitive, but this graph shows valuable discipline is when markets ...Read More

The crux of such an ongoing argument has to deal with shareholder diversification and its impact on ...Read More

Small business owners and employees aren't the only ones able to take advantage of tax breaks included in the ...Read More

The independent research shop upgrades its ratings, landing DFA in the top-tier of fund ...Read More

The hedge funds industry is in trouble, and for good reason, notes major news outlets like the WSJ and ...Read More

By nature, markets are volatile. Here are a few savvy ways to make investing a more palatable road to follow over a ...Read More

Different sets of ETF research raise concerns about illiquidity issues during periods of heightened ...Read More