Savings Bonds

I want to talk a little about savings bonds, since they seem like a comparatively good deal right now. Series EE savings bonds pay a fixed rate of interest, and Series I bonds pay a spread over inflation, as measured by the CPI. Of course, both of these rates are practically non-existent right now. The thing about them that’s interesting to me is some of the other provisions associated with them. [Read More]

Robo Advisors

Lately, I’ve been thinking a little about robo-advisors. Really, these are just like those target date retirement funds that have been around for the last few years, except there are even fewer people working there. Or, they’re like a fund of funds. They take your money, invest it in the assets they pick, and use computer systems to monitor them, to make sure that asset allocations are within the bounds set by the firm (and for other features we’ll talk about later. [Read More]