Over the last several months, the U.S. dollar has generally declined in value against other currencies, raising concerns that the dollar may depreciate further. (A discussion of factors impacting exchange rates can be found here). There is also the threat of future inflation. Both of these can impact investment portfolios. How can investors protect themselves?

As investors were suffering huge losses last year and the first few months of this year, many of them despaired that good times would ever return. We never doubted that the market would come back, but we had (and still have) no way to know what a full recovery might look like or how long it might last. However, the history of the U.S. stock market is at least somewhat encouraging.

Earlier this year, Sound Investing interviewed Vanguard founder John Bogle, who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks and who has always sided with individual investors over Wall Street. In an edited transcript of the interview, Bogle tells why he doesn’t think Wall Street is doing a good job for investors and what he thinks about Treasuries as a safety net against inflation.

Whenever you leave a job, whether it’s your choice or not, there are many details and changes competing for your attention, and it’s easy to overlook the disposition of your employer-sponsored retirement plan such as a 401(k), 403(b) or 457.

Right now real estate seems to be in the doghouse. Home prices are hurting, as are millions of mortgagees (to say nothing of investors) snared by the subprime real estate mess. After a series of stunningly great years, the Dow Jones Wilshire REIT Index lost 17.6 percent in 2007 and another 39.2 percent in 2008. 

Retirees often ask us if they should consider their Social Security as part of their portfolios. It’s income, and it seems to many people as if Social Security should be in the fixed-income part of their asset allocation.  Though a lot of people take that view, we think this is a bad idea. For several reasons we discourage our clients from doing this.

Usually once or twice a year I get the urge to organize my filing cabinet, particularly to clean out the piles of paper that seem to accumulate in folders with labels like “pay stubs,” “insurance” and “retirement.”