Barrons Article By Michael Aneiro The disclosure late Thursday of a surprise $2 billion trading loss at JP Morgan (JPM) has sent the bank’s shares sharply lower Friday and has pushed stocks broadly lower as well. It’s not helping financial bonds, a onetime super-safe sector of the investment-grade world that has struggled to regain confidence [...]

While reading, hearing, and analyzing all the dismal economic reports, especially Spain’s eventual default on its debt, we sat here in the Quantum Capital trading room for a bit to ponder what’s going to happen here in the US. But you need not worry, just because the markets are selling off does not mean you [...]

Michael Chamberlain, Contributor Outsourcing is the hiring of a consultant from outside the company to complete a task or provide a service that they are better suited to do then your own employees. Many small to mid sized plans are beginning to outsource 401(k) fiduciaries. Companies outsource many services, including payroll, auditing, marketing, legal defense, building [...]

Will “Rome Burn” While Bernanke Plays a Tune on His Saxophone? Fed-watchers of late are beside themselves.  Every twitch or syllable out of place from a Fed governor sends the market into a spiral, either up or down.  Ben Bernanke has never been more popular, as he deftly moves from Congressional hearings to speeches, and [...]

How You Can Use Options and Futures to Protect Your Portfolio and Potentially Enhance Returns By John Henek VP Investments 708-267-0627 john@quantumcapitalinvestments.com Buying and holding stocks and mutual funds has proven to be a fairly risky and somewhat fruitless endeavor over the past 10 years.  If you are invested in buy and hold mutual funds, [...]

7 Reasons to Consolidate your 401(k) and IRA Accounts 1. Consolidate assets are easier to manage – You can end administrative hassles if you consolidate your accounts. You only need to change address with one provider instead of several. You only have to remember one website login and password to change investment choices. Having the [...]

ETF Pitfalls The good news is that there’s not a lot of bad news about ETFs. The better news is that it’s relatively simple to avoid the most common pitfalls. Here’s the good news about the bad news about ETFs: You are your own worst enemy. Aside from the obvious risk of the securities in [...]

Differences between ETFs and Mutual Funds The traditional mutual fund industry and ETF proponents are wooing your investment dollars. Don’t rush into a relationship without comparing the competition. Across a crowded room, index funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are pretty good lookers. Both have low costs, diversification, and approval from Mom and Dad. But [...]

Mutual Funds Versus ETFs When it comes to the stock market, many of us only understand one thing — when we buy a stock it has a propensity to go down.  Stock picking is a difficult endeavor, and small “retail” investors are viewed as “fish” for savvy institutional traders to feed upon.  Daytrading and other [...]

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is a wealth-building strategy that involves investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals over a long period. This type of systematic investment program is familiar to many investors, as they practice it with their 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans. When it comes to implementing investment strategies based on dollar-cost averaging, there may be no [...]