today’s finance: roll-up of links

Here are a few finance-related links collected in OneNote mostly from 2019.

link | my remarks

• | - “The 8 Best Credit Unions of 2020” | A search for the best credit unions led me to the awareness that military credit unions are of the best in the country. “How to Invest in Promissory Notes with the Solo 401k” | The promissory note should be the first form of micro-lending: “A promissory note is a signed document between two parties that contains a written promise to pay an agreed-upon sum, at a specified date. In simpler terms, a promissory note is a promise to pay or an IOU.” https://www.mysolo401k.net/| An entire website devoted to this subject brought to my attention by Lisa Phillips. Merrill Edge | I have been recommending this product for years (but still have not tried it—and my time is running out). “3 Credit Cards for Teens: How to Choose” | This article suggests to me that parents should actually be responsible for establishing their child’s credit record (my father would disagree). “MMB Portfolio Asset Allocation Update, December 2019 (Q4)” | I think everyone should report like this as a mental-health/social-status exercise. This article put some tickers on my watch list, especially the Vanguard bond instruments. “My Money Blog Portfolio Income Update—December 2019 (Q4)” | “I track the “TTM Yield” or “12-Month Yield” from Morningstar, which the sum of a fund’s total trailing 12-month interest and dividend payments divided by the last month’s ending share price (NAV) plus any capital gains distributed over the same period. I prefer this measure because it is based on historical distributions and not a forecast.” “Major Asset Class Returns, 2019 Year-End Review” | “As of 2019 year-end, we find ourselves again in a situation where the return of nearly every major asset class was positive. And yet again, the lowest positive return was from short-term US Treasuries.”