Conflicts of interest are inherent in the traditional financial services industry. Ignoring that the conflict exists doesn’t accomplish much. Life gets even more messy when you have been led to believe that the relationship is something other than “Let the buyer beware.” At the New York Times we’re discussing what this conflict means to you as an individual and why you can only expect disclosure and nothing more.

Learning to Live with Conflicts of Interest (New York Times)

Whether your flipping channels or browsing through a magazine, at some point you’ll come across snippets of financial advice. By itself, the advice isn’t dangerous, but how you choose to apply it can be. At the New York Times we’re discussing how relying on general financial advice can be dangerous to your financial health. How do you decide what you need to do?

Special thanks to Dylan Ross at Swan Financial Planning for his suggestion on how to improve this sketch.

Ignore Generic Financial Advice (New York Times)

How has your life changed since the economy went south? Have you changed your spending habits? Have you saved more? At the New York Times we’re debating the need to rethink how to best fix our economy. The answers aren’t simple, nor are they fast acting. Ultimately the fix starts with each of us assessing our relationship with money and what we’re willing to do to fix the problem.

The Great Debt Reset (New York Times)

Why invest in stocks? Because the potential return is greater than cash or bonds, but it comes with increased risk. At the New York Times, we’re discussing how market fluctuations and timing (market cycles) impacts whether we’re benefiting from that risk (bull market) or paying the price for that risk (bear market).

One Big Thing We Don’t Know About Stock (New York Times)

We’ve had the conversation before about investing mistakes, but it’s worth revisiting. If we fail to accept that we make the mistakes versus the investment [except in the case of fraud], we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment. At the New York Times, we’re discussing why acknowledging this behavioral mistake matters.

All Investment Mistakes Are Investor Mistakes (New York Times)

Keep your eyes on the road. That’s what we all heard in driver’s ed, but as any experienced driver knows, you need to check your rear-view mirror to see what’s going on behind you. However, the driver who insists on trying to drive while ONLY looking in the rear-view mirror is an accident waiting to happen. The same rule applies for investing. At the New York Times, I discuss what happens when past performance becomes the driving factor for investing decisions. Past investment performance has little predictive value on what will happen in the future, yet we rely on it time and again to make our investing decisions.

The Temptation (and Danger) of Past Investment Performance (New York Times)

Paying off your mortgage is a time-honored part of the American Dream. At the New York Times, I tackle the question of what happens when you’re faced with the option to risk extra dollars earmarked for your mortgage on other investments. Because it involves something we feel emotion about (our homes) and the perceived potential to make more money, we often behave badly. If you’re going to compare paying down your mortgage with investing in the stock market or even in balanced mutual funds, you better make sure you’re comfortable with the additional risk you’re taking.

Risk, Emotion and the Extra Mortgage Payment (New York Times)

Investing decisions based on the most recent past often fail to draw from a long enough time period to justify our rationale. So we end up making these decisions based on our expectations versus reality. At the New York Times, I write about the necessity of training ourselves to extend our definition of the past to ensure our decisions are based on enough history. We need to remember that things are the way they are until they aren’t…it’s usually at this point that we feel pain of some sort.

The Future May Not Resemble the Last 6 Months (New York Times)

When you go check your mailbox or glance at the newsstand, do you expect it to impact your investment decisions? Many of today’s most popular magazines publish regular cover stories about what’s happening in the market. While most covers and their accompanying stories may provide good information, it’s unrealistic to think you should act on the advice and change your financial plan. At the New York Times, we review the risks of relying on magazine covers to direct investment behavior.

Magazine Covers are Lousy Investment Signals (New York Times)

If you have life insurance, why? For most of us, it’s to replace an economic loss. At the New York Times, I address how we often try to put life insurance in the category of an investment. The problem is we can’t expect it to perform like an investment or to replace an emotional loss. Once we recognize the limitations, it can be easier to determine what we really need when it comes to life insurance.

Why Life Insurance is Not an Investment (New York Times)