This article first appeared on The Rich Investor. Florida Senator Marco Rubio proposed a plan earlier this month that gives new parents additional paid time off work to care for their children. That sounds good, of course. Parental leave benefits are a little on the skimpy side in America, and a lot of mothers and...Read More

This piece first appeared on The Rich Investor. I’ll be blunt: I hate AT&T. But before you chime in with an enthusiastic “me too,” I’m not referring to AT&T’s mobile phone service or home internet service (both of which I dumped years ago for being overpriced). I’m talking about AT&T stock (T). Though to be...Read More

This piece first appeared on The Rich Investor. You know the rule: Stocks “always” return 8% to 10% per year over the long term, right? This is the assumption most financial planners make, and it’s practically considered holy writ in 401(k) promotional literature. I’m not going to tell you that this received wisdom is wrong,...Read More

This piece originally appeared on The Rich Investor. The Individual Retirement Account, or IRA, is the backbone of most middle-class Americans’ retirement plans. Creating the tax-deferred savings vehicle back in 1974 was one of the few unequivocally good decisions Congress has made over the past half century. Don’t give Congress too much credit though. An...Read More

I wrote a few weeks ago that the economics of writing options (i.e. selling options that you intend to let expire or buy back at a lower price) are a lot like those of an insurance company. Yes, there are risks, and insurance companies do take losses from time to time. But those risks can...Read More