What the experts say

When bigger isn’t better

America’s largest mutual funds “could be too big to succeed,” said J. Alex Tarquinio in SmartMoney. There’s growing evidence that the bigger the fund, the less impressive the returns, and that has big implications for U.S. investors, who have thousands of fund options but gravitate toward “an elite few.” Today, 30 percent of all money in U.S. funds is invested in just 1 percent of those available, and the 100 biggest ones hold nearly $3.5 trillion. These megafunds have attracted customers and ballooned because they historically delivered great returns. But “more recently, that story has begun to change.” According to a SmartMoney analysis, the “average megafund was no better than about 40 percent of its peers over the past year, or over the past three years.” Critics say the giants excel only at generating millions of dollars in annual fees. “There are no benefits to a fund being bigger,” says securities lawyer Seth Lipner. “Success breeds sloppiness.”

Big returns through Social Security

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Delaying Social Security benefits “might be the best investment deal” available to retirees, said Jack Hough in The Wall Street Journal. Stanford University economist John Shoven says that when the trade-off is calculated like an investment return, an unmarried 62-year-old man who delays benefits until age 67 gets a payoff equivalent to “buying a long-term bond that pays 3.2 percent a year.” For a woman, it’s a 4 percent return. Delaying benefits provides even more of a “whopper” for married couples: If the higher-earning spouse puts off payments from age 62 to 70, but begins collecting spousal benefits at age 66, “the return is like owning a 7 percent bond.” Considering inflation adjustment and tax advantages, that is better than a bank CD paying 10 percent.

Happiness for $50K

How much does it take to buy happiness? About $50,000, said Josh Sanburn in Time.com. A new poll by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., suggests that an annual income of $50,000 “is a tipping point when it comes to overall satisfaction.” Respondents earning at least that amount reported being happier in every category, including housing, relationships, health, employment, spiritual life, and community involvement, than those who earned less. A previous study found, though, that beyond $75,000, “more income doesn’t translate into more happiness.”