Casey Smith

Risk tolerance is how much risk you are willing to take with your investments.  Let’s look at the market crash of 2008-2009.  In early March, when the market finally bottomed out, how did you feel?  Were you rubbing your hands together with worry, thinking the financial world as we knew it was coming to an end?  Or were you rubbing your hands with glee, anticipating a huge return by investing in such a low-priced market?  The first response indicates you are probably a very conservative investor.  The second likely means you are a very aggressive investor.  Someone who was ambivalent, or not too worried and not too excited, would be somewhere in the middle.  Your risk tolerance should guide you in choosing appropriate investments.   No matter where you are on the risk tolerance continuum, the last thing you want is to not be able to sleep at night from being uncomfortable with where your money is.

Would you borrow money on your house or on a credit card to buy into an investment or put in your savings account?  Ok, some people would, but it’s not very smart. Some advisors look at making this decision based on rates of return.  For instance, if you can make a larger return on your investment than you will pay in interest on the money borrowed, then the argument is that it would make sense to invest with debt.  However, there is a hole in this argument.  What guarantee do you have that your investment return will truly actually be larger than your interest paid?  It would sure be nice to have an absolutely guaranteed high rate of return with no potential for not reach the mark.  (If you do know of one, I’d love to hear about it!) However, high return investments virtually always involve taking on a high degree of risk –the risk that the return will turn out to...

The pictures and stories from Japan have shocked us all. The human aspect of this country’s struggle to cope with the earthquake and tsunami tugs at our hearts. The same applies to those in Middle Eastern countries crying out for freedom and democracy only to be responded to with bullets and bombs. While the human factor is not to be taken lightly, the economic consequences are making the most headlines. These headlines helped to bring back some market volatility that reminded me somewhat of 2008. The markets pulled back and rebounded from the news in Japan, Egypt and Libya relatively quickly. However, the indicators that track investor confidence tell us that investors are becoming more nervous about the future. What is the individual investor to do in these volatile times? I would urge you to do nothing IF your portfolio is properly allocated. Why? Investors tend to do poorly when they react to what the market does instead of preparing...

What is the Connection Between the Protests in Eqypt and Your Portfolio? Not a whole lot unless the crisis spreads out of Egypt or other countries take sides over their local issues. However, I do want to share with you a blog of a Egyptian born Pastor here in Atlanta. Dr. Michael Youssef is the pastor of the Church of the Apostles (www.apostles.org). He is also the lead voice to Leading The Way, a world wide outreach ministry also based here in Atlanta. Many of the news anchors that you are listening to as well as key US Government Officials do not understand the root cause of the Egyptian protests. Here is an excerpt of Dr. Youssef’s recent blog on Eqypt. “Westerners are looking at what is happening on the Egyptian streets and wondering if it is good for an oppressed people to protest against a semi-dictatorial regime. Most of these young protesters cannot find jobs, and inflation has ravaged the middle class, to...