Investing

There’s no better time than now to start saving for the future. Retirement is becoming longer and more expensive with many costs likely to come out of your own pocket. Here are 4 investment strategies to get you on the right path and give yourself an edge toward meeting your retirement goals.

Stock markets around the world have been on an extended bull run for a long time now and 2 new charts, from Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, show that shares are in too-good-to-be-true territory and that, if history is anything to go by, they're due for a sharp correction.

An annualized average of 56% of all actively managed domestic equity funds, 59% of active U.S. large-cap equity funds, and 64% of active mid-cap equity funds underperformed broad-market indexes. [Index funds anyone? Let's review.] Words: 895

Extremes eventually reverse, and generally in rough symmetry with their explosive rise and we are reaching such extremes in valuation, complacency and margin debt. When the speculative frenzy dissipates, central banks will be the only buyers left and unless the Fed increases its balance sheet from $4.5 trillion to $14.5 trillion in a matter of months, even central bank manipulation will be swamped by sellers exiting bursting-bubble markets.

If you really want to be sure you’re keeping pace with inflation and own assets that can survive a crisis then forget gold. [A look at the evidence] tells us that over long periods of time, investors are better off holding stocks than gold. Words: 665; Table:1

As the markets are propelled higher by the successive interventions of the Federal Reserve, it is hard not to think that the current rise will continue indefinitely, but the reality is that markets cycle from peaks to troughs as excesses built up during the up cycle are liquidated...This time...[will be no] different...[so what's an investor to do? Below] are 10 basic investment rules that have historically kept investors out of trouble over the long term [and hopefully will for you as well].

While 36% of mutual funds, on average, have outperformed their benchmarks (after fees) over the past 10 years, the truth of the matter is that only 43% of mutual funds have outperformed the S&P 500 so far in 2015. In other words, 57% of funds are still underperforming the market this year. Here's why.

Investment “rules” that were relevant for a century are obsolete. They were based on a world where economies grew, people’s standard of living increased and outcomes tomorrow better than today. Arguably each of these conditions will not hold in the future but if they don't, neither do the rules of thumb that guided investing last century. These guiding principles developed and worked in a world that that no longer exists but applying them in the future will result in devastating financial outcomes. [Let me explain.] Words: 1261

We understand the appeal of passive investing. It offers lower fees and simplicity and many investors are skeptical about the ability of active managers to consistently beat a benchmark...yet there’s also a lot of evidence supporting the benefits of an active approach. Today, we see many risks that are hard to avoid by hugging a benchmark—and opportunities that simply cannot be captured by going passive. While not every point is relevant to every investor, in every market, we can think of ten good reasons to stay active in equities today.

No one can predict exactly what will rise up after the collapse of the current monetary system, but here is my take on how you can do your best to prepare yourself no matter what happens.