Tag: jeremy siegel

investing · Personal Finance

The Best Books On Economics

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A lot of folks complain to me about the dense nature of economics and government policy, something that deters them from getting involved with the market or reading the subject matter. As a result, I decided to drop the following list here, with the intent of providing a shortcut to the volumes that help simplify issues for the average American goober.

On Stock Market Investing

The Intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham

Stocks for the Long Run by Jeremy Siegel

A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing  by John C. Bogle

How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street  by Allan Roth

On Real Estate Investing

How To Be a Capitalist Without Any Capital by Nathan Latka

On Economic History

Socialism and Human Action by Ludwig von Mises

The Global Minotaur by Yanis Varoufakis

Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman

Capitalism In America by Alan Greenspan

An Empire of Wealth by John Steele Gordon

On Economic Policy

Who Stole the American Dream? by Hedrick Smith

Retirement Heist  by Ellen Schultz

Temp by Louis Hyman

Maxed Out  by James Scurlock

investing · Personal Finance

Siegel: The 60/40 Split Is Outdated

economiccommanderLeave a comment

The 60/40 portfolio divide between stocks and fixed income is old news.

That’s the word from Jeremy Siegel, the Wharton professor and renowned author of Stocks For The Long Run. He made the point on CNBC that our enduring low interest rate environment means you need a higher concentration of equities in an investment portfolio. What’s the new ratio? It swings in at 75/25 percent, stocks to fixed income.

Here’s the video:

As a side note, the author of How a Second Grader Beats Wall Street uses the 60/40 split for his son’s portfolio, but the 40 percent is actually made to include an international equity fund. He puts 60 percent in VTSMX, 30 percent in VGTSX, and 10 percent in VBMFX. While the regular stock fund (VTSMX) performed well for the period discussed in the book, the VGTSX lagged dramatically.

The ultimate decision on allocation should relate to the investor’s age and specific time frame. Unfortunately, ultra-low rates will make it harder for older folks to adjust because their fixed income returns stand to get decimated by the inflation figures.

But that’s ok, as long as we have good GDP.