Investor Junkie
My Business and Financial Freedom Journey

Weekend Reading for April 11, 2010

What I’m reading this weekend:

• Make More on Your Cash : WSJ – Tired of earning less than 1% on your MM account?  William Bernstein an interesting idea to get a decent return.
• The Katana: Holy Crap! Taxes Due Soon : Financial Samurai – Better get your taxes done before the 15th.  Doing it yourself, not so much.
• Interest Rates Have Nowhere to Go but Up : NY Times – Leverage up now before rates go higher.  We’re looking at Toyota’s 0% for 5 year promotion.  We’ll won’t see rates on mortgages, credit cards  and car loans this low, maybe in our lifetime.
• Big Yields, Big Risk in the Oil Patch : WSJ – They expect MLPs to decrease in the short term.  For me I’m in for the long haul, so if they do go down I’ll buy more.
• A different approach to asset allocation : Bogleheads – Get out the popcorn and read this VERY long thread.  A sad story about a young guy (21 years old) who at the peak of the debt bubble maxed out $200k to invest in the market.
• IRS rules for early IRA withdrawals : Bankrate.com – Did you know you can take money out money from your IRA to fund a child’s college education, and not be subject 10% penalty?  Federal taxes may still apply though.

Review of “The Investor’s Manifesto” by William Bernstein

Investor's Manifesto by William Bernstein

First let me say I am a big fan of his previous books “The Intelligent Asset Allocator” and “The Four Pillars of Investing”.  So don’t take anything I say as disliking his work.  On the contrary, I feel all three books are a MUST read primer for a good financial education!  Maybe one day I’ll go re-review the other two books.  William Bernstein, who is a neurosurgeon by trade, took the nebulous field of investing, and puts it into understandable terms.  He has a Money Magazine column and a web site (which unfortunately is updated sporadically).