The following is a guest post about dollar cost averaging by Kevin Monk who writes at FinanceForDummies.net, a finance and personal finance blog. If you’d like to submit a guest post to Money Q&A, check out our guest posting guidelines. Investing has always been a complicated proposition for the average person. They know that they should not simply keep their money in savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) since inflation eats up their funds much faster than interest payments replenish them. Most people also know that the stock market is a more attractive vehicle in many cases than bonds or real estate. But the risks of the stock market are clear with every bit of bad news that breaks. Dollar … Read more

Whether you’ve considered getting into investing or you’re a seasoned pro when it comes to managing your own investments – perhaps with the help of robo-advisors to optimize your investment portfolio – one question that remains for most investors is: what is a good return on investment? What type of ROI should you be striving for with your investment portfolio? It’s an important question, but many folks assume that, as long as they’re earning higher rates of return with their current selections than other options like savings accounts, then they’re seeing “good” returns. However, that probably isn’t the case. If you truly want to earn great returns on your investments, you shouldn’t settle for “it’s better than the alternatives.” Investing … Read more

UPDATE – This round of investing is closing on Friday, October 27th at midnight! Now’s your last chance to invest in a movie and earn a great rate of return (plus residuals). Click here to invest through WeFunder. Don’t miss your chance to earn a 15% return on your principal and 50% of the pro-rated profits in perpetuity!  UPDATE #2 – Check out the bottom of this blog post, where you can find three NEW movies that you can invest in through WeFunder! I’ve talked about investing in things like a rock and roll band through Kickstarter before. I’m a huge fan of the platform and of crowdfunding projects in general. But, recently, I had the opportunity to invest in … Read more

If you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck, long-term savings and investment strategies aren’t exactly a priority. After all, you need to make sure you can afford basic human necessities like the roof over your head, utilities, and food, not to mention life necessities like car insurance and cell phone plans. Once everything is accounted for, what little is leftover from your last paycheck might be used to pay off debt or go out to dinner one night per month. Investing money in stocks, bonds, or any other option just doesn’t seem feasible, given your income/expense ratio. You know that investing is important, especially when it comes to saving for retirement, but the freedom to divert money to investments instead of necessities and debts … Read more