I dig "Mafia Wars" for its investment features. Would love to find more games about modern money-making and investing. [more inside]
posted by skypieces on May 1, 2009 - 14 answers

How do I get the most out of a meeting with a financial advisor I don't particularly trust? [more inside]
posted by LN on Mar 19, 2009 - 10 answers

I have four mutual funds in my IRA account - a Total Market index fund, a Small-cap index fund, an International stock index fund, and a Bond index fund, and I'm trying to figure out how to allocate my assets between them. I've read a little bit about "Modern Portfolio Theory" and the "Efficient Frontier", but I'm struggling to understand some of the math. So, is there a simple way I can test whether a particular allocation is on the efficient frontier? Or, see all the possible allocations on the efficient frontier and choose between them? How do I figure this out? Ideally, I'd love to see a simple enough formula that, given the mean and standard deviation (and maybe correlation matrix), of my four funds, would tell me what allocation is on the efficient frontier. Or, some type of online tool, or an Excel spreadsheet or something. [more inside]
posted by stuehler on Feb 17, 2009 - 10 answers

If you had a very strong incentive to invest money before the end of the year with a 30-year outlook, and a further strong incentive to not adjust your investment strategy over that timeframe unless absolutely necessary, what kind of portfolio would you assemble? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 5, 2008 - 15 answers

Recommend any financial crisis blogs written by people who are following all the relevant indicators, or by people involved in the finance industry, who are trying to make sense of the market and economy?
posted by vizsla on Oct 9, 2008 - 12 answers

How can I find out the health of my investment brokerage (like Fidelity.com, E-Trade, etc)? Can brokerages even crash and lose my money like in a bank failure? [more inside]
posted by random1destiny on Oct 6, 2008 - 7 answers

Is cancelling my health insurance and investing the money instead a good bet, or a foolhardy risk? I'm young, in good health, and have no chronic health conditions. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 26, 2008 - 47 answers

Is there anyone (especially online) who's collected reasonably well-informed stock picks from, say, 2, 5, or 15 years ago and explained why the recommendations did or did not work out? [more inside]
posted by ibmcginty on Jul 21, 2008 - 5 answers

About $100 000 has been transfered to me, and I don't know how to properly invest it. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 7, 2008 - 38 answers

Financial / 401k advice for a 23-year-old engineer. Considering the state of the economy and the price of oil, what should I do with my stocks. Also, I have the option for a 401k but I have no idea what type of 401k to choose. [more inside]
posted by decrescendo on Jul 1, 2008 - 20 answers

InvestingFilter: Is there anything inherently flawed about investing in index funds? [more inside]
posted by reenum on Jun 18, 2008 - 24 answers

European who has USD in an American account - what should I do? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Apr 21, 2008 - 4 answers

Is it possible to estimate the standard deviation of an investment's return after "y" years, if you know the investment's mean annual return and standard deviation? [more inside]
posted by stuehler on Mar 25, 2008 - 14 answers

What's the safest possible thing that I can do with my money? [more inside]
posted by Afroblanco on Mar 20, 2008 - 28 answers

I am considering selling off most of my assets to pay some of my debts, and want some outside advice on if I should. [more inside]
posted by andifsohow on Mar 14, 2008 - 11 answers

What are some great, informative sites/forums related specifically to trading/investing in/selling metals? Apparently metal is where it's at now that the dollar is dropping. I know little to nothing about finance and trading, etc. - [more inside]
posted by sarelicar on Mar 12, 2008 - 9 answers

Automatic investment plans (e.g. employee retirement accounts) often seem to make their investments on the first day of the month. If millions of people are known to consistently invest in markets on the same day of each month, does this have an effect on the price of what they purchase? [more inside]
posted by alb on Feb 19, 2008 - 7 answers

I will soon receive an inheritance of about $100,000-$150,000 (numbers are vague right now). I'm looking for tips and advice for managing that money. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jan 14, 2008 - 16 answers

Where can I find summary information for a specific stock for days in the past? [more inside]
posted by tozturk on Aug 18, 2007 - 6 answers

My wife and I will be moving stateside from Bermuda next year. We will be moving into an empty house with NOTHING except outdated wardrobes and cash. With that said, we will be acquiring a lot of stuff. We will need cars, furniture, appliances, electronics, art, tools, clothes, insurance, etc. etc. How can we maximize our investments in all this stuff? What is your opinion on getting good deals in each of these categories? Our financial planner suggested we incorporate to get some tax write-offs. Another friend said to look into SwapLease. Yet another said to buy all of our furniture in North Carolina. If you were starting with nothing, how would you approach it? Should I walk into Best Buy and tell the manager to make me a deal? Should we buy used cars? Hit garage sales? Buy fine art and antiques? Get a part-time job at the Gap? Where and how can I find the best deals / best investments?
posted by jasondigitized on Aug 14, 2007 - 12 answers

How ethical are Ethical Funds? After meeting with an SRI adviser and perusing the literature, I'm not so sure. [more inside]
posted by lindsey.nicole on May 20, 2007 - 19 answers

What are some good resources to help an expatriate plan for retirement? [more inside]
posted by armage on Apr 29, 2007 - 1 answer

I've paid off all my credit cards.... now what? [more inside]
posted by weiler63 on Mar 7, 2007 - 22 answers

Help me learn about personal finances... Canadian style. [more inside]
posted by flibbertigibbet on Feb 21, 2007 - 13 answers

A friend needs to find a good place to park some money that will ultimately be used for house down-payment purposes. Help me come up with a few good investment options. [more inside]
posted by killdevil on Jan 26, 2007 - 23 answers

My new job is a start-up, and they don't offer 401k. What are my investment options? I already have a Roth IRA to which I am contributing the max per year.
posted by xmutex on Jan 24, 2007 - 8 answers

What are the peeves/dislikes/hates/sources of job dissatisfaction for people in finance related careers? Specifically, careers related to financial risk management, hedge funds, financial engineering/quantitative analysis, etc. [more inside]
posted by Big Fat Tycoon on Nov 1, 2006 - 11 answers

Hey financial wizkids..... Are some financial products forbidden for Americans? What are X-markets (in plain english)? [more inside]
posted by ruelle on Oct 31, 2006 - 11 answers

How do I best analyze the performance of my mutual funds? [more inside]
posted by contessa on Sep 25, 2006 - 13 answers

Good magazine about Money for younger people? [more inside]
posted by Bjkokenos on Jun 25, 2006 - 12 answers

Trying to find an online article about an investment firm that had put together a fund set to have positive returns in a down market [more inside]
posted by ptm on Jun 12, 2006 - 6 answers

I need help generating an 'explanation' for my bankruptcy 6 and 1/2 years ago that will not make me look financially incapable to a potential investor. Are there any 'good' explanations for filing bankruptcy that I could use in order to not have this fact work against me? I need potential circumstances that would warrant a bankruptcy and sound reasonable to a potential business partner. More inside... [more inside]
posted by AdInfinitum on Apr 24, 2006 - 17 answers

When researching Indexed ETFs or Closed-End ETFs with the intention of buying, should I be looking at the fund's Yearly NAV Return or the Market Value Return as an indicator of success? [more inside]
posted by spicynuts on Nov 23, 2005 - 2 answers

FinancialFilter: Should I sell my DSC mutual funds now or later? [more inside]
posted by acoutu on Oct 25, 2005 - 8 answers

What are the best mock stock exchange websites out there? What ones are to be avoided? [more inside]
posted by tozturk on Jun 9, 2005 - 5 answers