Showing results by author "Dale C. Maley" in All Categories

Unfortunately, our U.S. educational system teaches Americans nothing about investing. Many people struggle for years to develop an optimum investment plan. This short story recounts the author's journey to a diversified portfolio of low-cost index funds. I hope the story of my journey to a diversified portfolio of low cost index funds will inspire other investors to further explore the advantages of index fund investing.

78 million Baby Boomers start to turn age 65 in 2011. Many of these Boomers will be seeking investments that have low risk and high returns. Equity indexed annuities are often promoted as low risk investments with high returns. This short story explores the complexities and hidden costs of equity indexed annuities.

This short story explains the basic concepts of financial planning and provides a conceptual roadmap for planning your retirement. By using a conceptual roadmap approach, you can quickly grasp the general concepts of retirement planning in a very short amount of reading time.

American medical doctors face some unique financial planning challenges. They often have to incur student loans in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unlike regular college graduates who start working at age 22, they often can not start working until about age 30. Their relatively high income can also drive the need for huge retirement savings. Because of their high income, doctors are major targets for people selling bad investments. This short story explores these unique challenges. Read this short story if you are a medical doctor who wants to learn how to meet your long-term ...

William T. Stackpole was one of early Fairbury's most interesting citizens. During his lifetime, he was gold prospector, pioneer, farmer, merchant, grain speculator, oil field worker, real estate sales person, inventor, writer, publisher, and visionary. His first adventure was traveling from Pekin, Illinois, to the gold fields of California in 1849. He kept a diary of this very interesting trip. This book transcribes his diary from longhand to modern typed text. It is hoped this transcription of his diary will help future Fairbury historians better understand the experiences of this very ...

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. This short story attempts do documents all the Fairbury citizens who have authored books over the years. Several of these book authors are major figures in the history of Fairbury. Additional biographical and historical information for these book authors is included in this short story.

The first settlers in the Fairbury area was Major Darnell south of town in 1829 and the McDowells north of town in 1832. In 1857, the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad installed new tracks which helped to create the village of Fairbury. This book is a collection of over 70 different carefully researched stories about various aspects of Fairbury history. These stories run the range from the pioneer settlers to modern efforts to preserve Fairbury history. It is hoped this book will help people better understand the almost 200 years of rich history that helped to define the community of Fairbury.

Financial bubbles have been occurring for hundreds of years. Most of us have lived through the Tech Wreck of 2000 and the Sub-Prime Crash of 2008. This short story examines and identifies the common characteristics of financial bubbles. Reading this short story might help you identify the next time we find ourselves in a financial bubble.

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. William T. Stackpole came from a prominent family in the Maine coastal city of Thomaston, Maine, on the St. Georges River. He was born in 1827. He grew up on the St. Georges River in Maine, where it emptied into the Atlantic Ocean. He was aware of the great success of the Erie Canal, built in 1821. These factors led to a life-long obsession with improving waterway shipping, including rivers and canals. ...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb popularized the term Black Swan through his books and interviews. Taleb’s Black Swan Theory refers only to unexpected events of large magnitude and consequence and their dominant role in history. Such events, considered extreme outliers, collectively play vastly larger roles than regular occurrences. This short story explores whether or not Black Swan events are really important to Main Street investors versus Wall Street traders.

Abraham Lincoln visited Pontiac, Illinois, on five separate occasions. Lincoln visited Pontiac twice in 1840 and was the lawyer who represented William Popejoy on his lawsuits with Isaac Wilson. Lincoln was the lawyer in another Pontiac case with County Sheriff Blue in 1843. In 1855, Lincoln spent several nights in Pontiac after he was rescued from a train stuck in a snowstorm. Lincoln’s last visit to Pontiac was in January of 1860 when he gave a speech at the Presbyterian Church. After the speech, Lincoln spent many hours at the home of Jason Strevell before he caught his train to ...

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. Fairbury was home to one of great horse importers of Illinois, John Virgin. He was named by the Governor of Illinois to be on the planning commission of the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition. The Keeley Institute was founded in 1891 as an alcoholic treatment center in Dwight, Illinois, 30 miles north of Fairbury. Many Fairbury citizens worked at the Keeley institute during the years it was open from 1891 ...

The first settlers in the Fairbury area was Major Darnell south of town in 1829 and the McDowells north of town in 1832. In 1857, the Peoria & Oquawka Railroad installed new tracks which helped to create the village of Fairbury. This book is a collection of over 70 different carefully researched stories about various aspects of Fairbury history. These stories run the range from the pioneer settlers to modern efforts to preserve Fairbury history. It is hoped this book will help people better understand the almost 200 years of rich history that helped to define the community of Fairbury.

The most critical decision involved with your retirement portfolio is the correct asset allocation. Asset allocation is the ratio between stocks and bonds in your portfolio. The higher the percentage of stocks versus bonds, the higher your expected return. Unfortunately, your risk level increases also. Financial planners recommend you lower your stock allocation as you age. This short story reveals the actual asset allocation used by Americans as a function of age group. It includes data from six different sources on typical Americans. You can compare your age and your asset allocation with...

Fairbury is a small town located in Central Illinois. It is 100 miles south of Chicago and 60 miles east of Peoria. It was founded in 1857 when the railroad first crossed Central Illinois. The author developed an outline for broadcasting twenty-one short stories about Fairbury history on the local radio station. This short story converts the outline for the radio audio history segments into this written short story. It is hoped this book helps to inform current Fairbury residents about the colorful history of Fairbury. It is hoped this short story will help to educate future historians who ...