Best and worst financial moves of 2007
CDs & investments
 |
Best
move: Laddered your CDs to smooth out
rates. |
When it comes to fixed-income investing, there are two things to avoid. One is being "long and wrong," in other words buying long-term investments when interest rates are low so you're locked in as rates increase.
The other is trying to time the market. The experts can't do it. You probably can't either.
By laddering
your CDs, you avoid both problems. And as
interest rates headed down late in 2007 after
the Fed cut rates, you look even smarter.
 |
Worst move: You reacted to every blip of the stock market. |
The stock market hit a couple of wild highs and lows this year. As many investors learned during the dot-com era, it's not financially healthy to "swing between panic and euphoria" every time it dips or climbs, says Kathleen Miller, Certified Financial Planner and president of Miller Advisors Inc. in Kirkland, Wash.
Reacting
after the market, when everyone else is
doing the same thing, is also a good way to
make sure you buy high and sell low -- which is
the opposite of a smart investment.
The better strategy to deal with the stock market: diversify, use asset allocation and rebalance at regular set intervals.
Then turn off the market reports
"and stop being jerked around," Miller says.
"Go back to the basics of, 'Why am I investing?'"
|
