美国国家公共电台 NPR The Soaring Stock Market And Your Nest Egg

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The stock market has been booming lately. After the Dow crossed 20,000 for the first time in January, it kept surging. It's been above 21,000 this week. NPR's Chris Arnold looks at what's going on and what it means for your retirement¹ account.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE²: Rasheed Irani works for a helicopter manufacturing company in Torrance, Calif. And like many Americans, he's been paying more attention to the stock market lately.

RASHEED IRANI: I was speaking with my wife. And we were both obviously happy that the market is going up. And she said, I'm so glad that our 401(k) is doing much better now that Trump³ is the president. She thought that it was because of Trump. But I think I was able to convince her that it is not (laughter).

ARNOLD: Actually, many investors⁴ do seem to be enthusiastic about Trump's pledges to cut taxes and regulations and build infrastructure⁵. But beyond the debate over why the market is up, other people are wondering, do they own enough stocks? Or maybe they own too many stocks. And what happens next? To get some answers, we called up Burt Malkiel. He's an economist⁶ and an author of a classic book on investing called "A Random⁷ Walk Down Wall Street." He's also the head of investments for the robo-adviser⁸ Wealthfront. Malkiel says he's getting...

BURT MALKIEL: A lot of questions about the market. And what I tell people is nobody - and I mean nobody - is able to tell you whether the market is too high or too low.

ARNOLD: Well, that doesn't sound very helpful. But Malkiel says you don't need to know where the market's headed next.

MALKIEL: Let me tell you the one thing that I am absolutely a hundred percent sure of, and that is the lower the fee I pay to the purveyor⁹ of an investment service, the more there is going to be for me.

ARNOLD: Pay the lowest fees possible. Malkiel says that's crucial. He says you also want to have the right mix of stocks and bonds and real-estate funds. Robo-advisers like his can set that up for you at a very low cost, but he says you do not want to play the game of paying brokers¹⁰ or mutual¹¹ fund managers a lot more than that to try to pick a bunch of stocks that'll be winners.

MALKIEL: This was something Warren Buffett stressed in his annual letter to shareholders¹².

ARNOLD: That came out just this past weekend. And Buffett wrote about a $1 million bet he made with a hedge fund manager nine years ago. Buffett bet that a simple, low-fee index fund that just blindly owned 500 major U.S. companies - that over a decade, that would beat any group of hedge funds that the person betting against him would choose. The hedge fund manager who took the bet is losing big time. Buffett's simple index fund has gained nearly four times as much value as the group of hedge funds.

That just seemed like a colossally¹³ huge difference.

MALKIEL: That's absolutely right, and the fees border on the obscene.

ARNOLD: So there are good ways to invest online at very low costs, but some people still want a human being to talk to about investing and financial planning. And that can get risky¹⁴.

KEVIN KELLER: Just because a person calls himself or herself a financial adviser, they may be nothing more than a sales person.

ARNOLD: That's Kevin Keller, the head of the CFP Board, which represents certified¹⁵ financial planners. He says many advisors¹⁶ get commissions to steer¹⁷ you into bad investments with big fees.

KELLER: That's why it's so important to select an adviser that's going to work in your best interest.

ARNOLD: The Obama administration had put a rule in place that would require just that. But the Trump administration has now moved to delay it and might kill it. So for now, Keller says what you should do is ask your adviser if he or she is acting¹⁸ in your best interest at all times and get it in writing. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

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1 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

8 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

9 purveyor   

n.承办商，伙食承办商

参考例句：

• Silence, purveyor of gossip, do not spread that report. 快别那样说，新闻记者阁下，别散布那个消息。 来自互联网
• Teaching purpose: To comprehensively understand the role function and consciousness composition of a news purveyor. 教学目的：全面深入的理解新闻传播者的角色功能和意识构成。 来自互联网

10 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

11 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

12 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

13 colossally   

参考例句：

• After making all those colossally dumb loans, financial institutions are now punishing you for their sins. 在放出了那些数额巨大的愚蠢的贷款后，现在金融机构正在因为他们的过失而惩罚你。 来自互联网

14 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

15 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

16 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

17 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

18 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。