Reflections on the World of Investments, Finance, and Wealth Management.

Category Archives: Wealth Management

Lower Fees: No Fooling

Posted on April 3, 2013 — Leave a Comment

Students who enroll in my wealth management courses likely know that I am a strong advocate for minimizing investment related fees, especially expense ratios on mutual funds. The Vanguard Group is widely known as having among the lowest expense ratios in the industry.  Thus, on Monday, even though it was April Fool’s Day, I was [...]

Also posted in Investing

IRS Raises Retirement Contribution Limits for 2013

Posted on October 22, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Last Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced increases to maximum retirement contribution limits for 2013. Although more than two dozen tax benefit programs are indexed annually to inflation, an couple of notable highlights include: The maximum individual contribution to Traditional or Roth 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans increases to $17,500 in 2013, a $500 [...]

Interview: Josh Brown, “The Reformed Broker”

Posted on August 29, 2012 — Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I posted a brief review of Josh Brown’s book, “Backstage Wallstreet,” which details his former career as a broker. This morning, Yahoo! Finance’s Daily Ticker features a great interview with Brown. In the six-minute interview, he discusses the brokerage industry, commission structures, and his personal decision to leave the commission-based brokerage [...]

Also posted in Investing

Book Review: “Backstage Wall Street”

Posted on July 31, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Browse through the business section of any bookstore, and you will likely find a large selection of wealth management or investment books. This genre must be very lucrative for publishers. However, the landscape is also filled with authors who employ sensationalized language and play on our financial insecurities to promote their latest approach to getting [...]

Also posted in Investing

Emergency Reserves

Posted on June 20, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Last week the Federal Reserve Board of Governors released the results of its triennial “Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).” Last conducted in 2010 and published every three years, the SCF offers a fascinating look at changes in household income and net worth. Officially titled, “Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2007 to 2010: Evidence from the [...]

25 Years of Tax Preparation

Posted on April 17, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Today (April 17) is the deadline for filing federal income taxes. I actually finished my return 10 days early this year, devoting an entire Saturday to completing my federal and state tax returns. After eight hours in front of the computer, it was a relief to finally submit the e-filed returns. In my Wealth Management course, we [...]

Also posted in Taxes

Do I Need Earthquake Insurance?

Posted on April 14, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Henry Fund technology analyst, Deanna Sorak, recently forwarded a link to a Bloomberg article discussing the relationship between hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. “fracking”) and an unusual rise in earthquakes in the lower Midwest. Fracking has become an industry standard for extracting natural gas trapped in bedrock deep underground. Natural gas drilling and production has grown substantially [...]

Also posted in Insurance

Credit Report Monitoring

Posted on March 20, 2012 — Leave a Comment

This week my Outlook calendar reminded me that it was time to check my credit report.  The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows consumers to gain free access to their personal credit report once every 12 months from each of the three nationwide credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion.  Rather than requesting my [...]

Death Valley

Todd Houge

Todd Houge is the Curt and Carol Lane Faculty Fellow in the Tippie College of Business. He teaches applied equity valuation, applied portfolio management, and wealth management courses to undergraduate and MBA students. Todd also supervises the department’s award-winning Henry Fund and Krause Fund programs, which provide a real-world, money-management opportunity for UI students.

Todd received a Ph.D. in Finance and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He also earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Wartburg College and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute.

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