index funds are not the same

JLP over at AllFinancialMatters has posted some great information on how not all index funds are equal. This is a good read because everyone, myself included, usually assumes that throwing your money into an index fund makes the most sense. The research shows that you need to be mindful of the expense ratios because even among mutual funds that are supposed to easy/passive, some are more expensive than others.

retirement on my mind

Here are a couple of links worth reading:

• The first is a quick recap of the traditional IRA. This has come up with me recently because, due to two relocations in 2006 being imputed to me as income, I realized I was disqualified from making a Roth IRA contribution (which I already did). Hopefully, recharacterization would be too much of a hassle.

• The second is a write-up on life cycle funds. Many of my friends have been getting into this because they're really not the type to track their investments too closely. They want to save, but with the least amount of attention needed. Life cycle funds are a decent choice, but as you'll read, not for everyone.

mutual funds primer

Mutual funds are simple, but they're also complex. Instead of trying to explain them in my typical long-winded fashion, I'll just link to a nice write-up from the Money Walks blog, called Mutual Funds 101.

Pay particular attention to #6. That's something to consider when thinking about funds vs. ETFs in taxable (regular brokerage) vs. non-taxable (usually retirement-type) accounts.