 Articles
We never stop working to offer the best advice to our clients. That's why Stephen Butler has written numerous articles and been quoted extensively.
Access to Steve's weekly columns in the Contra Costa Times is just a fingertip away!
Steve's Latest Columns
July 28, 2010 - Quality of funds most important portfolio trait
We retirement plan experts are gnashing our teeth these days over the question of how the mix of stocks and bonds should be allocated once retirement begins.
July 21, 2010 - GNMA funds offer safety and fair returns
In the lifetime of a Baby Boomer, the current interest and inflation rates are unprecedented.
July 14, 2010 - Market dog days an annual tradition
There's no reason to get bent out of shape by the recent downdraft in stock market values. It's just the summer doldrums phenomenon.
July 7, 2010 - Small, regional banks more efficient
In "Miami Vice," the movie, detectives Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs successfully duke it out with a Colombian drug cartel only to be frustrated in the end by a senior American banking official in a palatial New York office.
June 30, 2010 - Target and lifestyle funds fuel ignorance
Like a swarm of locusts, so-called "target date" and "lifestyle" mutual funds will soon have consumed up to a third of the $3 trillion of assets in 401(k) accounts across the country.
June 23, 2010 - America should seize BP's assets for cleanup
In Baja Mexico last week, I watched as brown pelicans, finally off the endangered species list, enjoyed a carefree existence diving for fish.
June 16, 2010 - Retirement planning can save some marriages
My regular trips to Florida to hang out with my parents, ages 90 and 94, always leave me with some insight as to what can make life enjoyable for really senior people (as distinguished from so-called "seniors" like me who get into movies and fly Southwest at special rates - but who don't feel all that old.)
June 9, 2010 - Why Subaru owners make good 401(k) investors, too
The automaker Subaru sailed through the recession with record sales and increased market share according to a recent Bloomberg report.
June 2, 2010 - Why stocks are not responding to growth
They say the market climbs on a "wall of worry," and most of that worrying comes from the Nattering Nabobs of Negativism out there in the community of economists and short sellers.
May 19, 2010 - 'Quants' fuel market volatility several ways
Flying to New York for my son's engagement party a week ago last Thursday, I finished Scott Patterson's new book, "The Quants - How a New Breed of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It."
May 12, 2010 - Certificate of deposit holders need new plan
Returns on certificates of deposit are so low as to be laughable if the consequences for retirees were not so disastrous.
May 5, 2010 - Wild West of Wall St. needs tough new laws
To see these Congressmen (both Democrats and Republicans) pussy-footing around the issue of regulating the financial industry just makes me sick.
April 28, 2010 - Do-nothing strategy a 'status quo bias' habit
Referring to yourself, compare the difference between having to say, "That was certainly a dumb move," or the resigned expression of: "I woulda, shoulda, coulda."
April 21, 2010 - Health care savings come after initial increase
When my cousin opened a medical clinic in a remote Vermont town that serviced a broad, formerly doctorless area, people with untreated health problems came out of the woodwork.
April 14, 2010 - Who can solve state's many fiscal problems?
In a casual conversation with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown the other day, I asked him if I was correct in my recollection that he was the last governor, Democrat or Republican, to say "no" to government employee pension increases.
April 7, 2010 - Fixing Social Security not impossible problem
Natalie Cole blew the roof off Yoshi's in Oakland last weekend. In that intimate setting, it was like she was singing in our living room.
March 31, 2010 - Mass bank exec exodus nonexistent
The collapse of the financial services industry may have been just the catharsis that this country needed after gorging on tax cuts and an unrestrained free enterprise system.
March 24, 2010 - Health care plays big part in jobs picture
Do you have a clue as to the total cost to your employer for your health insurance? When most employees pay at least some portion of their monthly premium, the general impression is that the employer probably pays "the other half."
March 17, 2010 - Electric car, solar system combination pays nicely
I just sent in my modest, refundable deposit on a new four-door, all-electric sedan to be built by Tesla, so I guess that puts me firmly on the green bandwagon.
March 10, 2010 - Investing in China making more sense
In China, the one-child-per-family rule means that two parents are doting on an only child. All that help with homework has lead to a generation of high-achievers coming out of an intellectual hot house.
March 3, 2010 - Health care, federal deficit can't stew any longer
IT MAY BE an urban legend, but I believe I saw one of the Tea Party members waving a sign that said, "Keep the Government's hands off my Medicaid."
February 24, 2010 - 'Working dog' puts trust in education
In a dusty, dog-hair-strewn world of silent, super-smart canines, lies one of the nation's fastest growing hobbies according to the Wall Street Journal.
February 17, 2010 - Arbitrary deadlines prescription for profits
We don't have to look far to see examples of the health insurance oligopoly taking unfair advantage of the public.
February 10, 2010 - Let hungry squirrels inspire your retirement
My dog and I like to watch the squirrels trying to get into our squirrel-proof bird feeder.
February 3, 2010 - College leaders newest pay superstars
THIS STATE certainly has its share of Marie Antoinettes, and not all of them are female.
January 27, 2010 - Cash-laden retirees need to put funds to work
The law of unintended consequences has dealt another blow to conservative retirees who have been investing in bank certificates of deposit and short-term debt like money market funds.
January 20, 2010 - Hidden fees on 401(k) plans deserve light of day
What next? A lawsuit plaintiff against a 401(k) plan sponsor (the employer) went ballistic and shot two people in a courthouse back in Missouri.
January 13, 2010 - Punitive tax reform for some banks overdue
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said the rich are different. Hemingway added, "Yes. They have more money."
January 6, 2010 - Roth IRA conversion not worth the taxes
With all this talk about Roth IRA conversions available to everyone in 2010, I don't see the attraction.
December 29, 2009 - Health care reform big leap forward for America
While Congress marches toward health care reform, I'm surprised that I haven't heard two obvious arguments for why passage is so critical.
December 22, 2009 - Never invade your nest egg's principle
What America needs is a simple book spelling out the most productive decisions people need to make as they transition from work to retirement.
December 15, 2009 - Bond funds better than fixed-rate annuities
A REPORT in last week's New York Times pointed out that AIG was once again the top-selling provider of fixed-rate annuity products by banks.
December 9, 2009 - Happiness in retirement not dictated by money
AFTER MEETING one of the authors at a book-signing, I was prompted to read "How Remarkable Women Lead," by Susie Cranston and Joanna Barsh.
December 2, 2009 - Do not look for trust at major brokerages
The poor Saint Anthony Foundation will have to sue Citibank to get its money back from what was purported to be a money-market fund.
November 25, 2009 - Investors who exited seek way back in
"The market rises on a wall of worry." For those who bailed out at some point during the downdraft, it's now a "wailing wall."
November 18, 2009 - Good living habits can bring happy returns
When I step out the door most mornings these days, my wife shouts from the breakfast table, "Stay focused!'
November 11, 2009 - Fluctuation can't derail disciplined investors
THIS MONTH marks the 10th anniversary of this column. It seems like just yesterday when I was asked to contribute after gaining notoriety from a cover article in Money magazine titled, "Beware, Retirement Plan Rip-Off."
November 4, 2009 - Alternative to 401(k) plans not in your interest
So, there I was last Thursday on WNYC radio, the public broadcasting station of New York City, where I was rebutting the recent Time magazine article that called for "retiring the 401(k)" because of the latter's apparent failure.
October 28, 2009 - CalPERS influence costly to taxpayers
Anytime there's a lot of money sloshing around, it can bring out the worst in people. California's $163 billion public employee retirement nest-egg, CalPERS, is proving to be a feeding trough for opportunists of several different stripes, and in the end, we taxpayers pay for the damage they create.
October 21, 2009 - Alternate to 401(k)s tax trap in disguise
Barbarians are at the gate. Time magazine last week had a cover article called "Retire the 401(k)" wherein they cite that "the average balance is $45,519." How stupid do they think we are?
October 14, 2009 - Investing returns depend on timetable
While basking in the afterglow of a 50 percent rise in the stock market, the financial press reminded me that we are closing in on the worst decade ever for the S&P 500 going back to 1927.
October 7, 2009 - TIP bonds could trap investors in bad net
Don't look now, but Treasury Inflation-Protected bonds (TIP's) may be a trap for the unwary. They're certainly good for the government, because the interest cost on TIP's is half of what it takes to sell a regular fixed-rate, 10-year government bond.
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