Newsletters

Human Nature has been on my mind lately because I’m in the middle of an Audible book,  The Laws of Human Nature, by Robert Greene.  I can’t enthusiastically recommend it—it is an unusual book and unusually long (over 28 hours), and the paperback is 624 pages.  It is, nonetheless, an interesting take on the laws ...

The first six months of 2024 have been very good to investors.  Of course, it is just six months, and anything under the sun can happen in the next six months.  Short-term movements in the market are unforeseeable.  The only thing we have confidence in is that if we invest in a wide swath of ...

If there was any doubt about this being an election year, turn on your favorite television show and sit through the election year commercials.  They make my daily Jeopardy escape a chore.  The person who invented the mute button should have received a Nobel Peace Prize. From what I can tell (w/o the volume) political commercials ...

As we enter the last four months of 2023, I’m reminded that this time last year was not so pleasant.  September 6, 2022, the S&P closed at 3,908 on its way south to the low of the year on October 12 of 3,577.  We were fielding a few worried calls.  What made matters worse was ...

If you’ve been a good saver and a salaried worker throughout your life, you more than likely have an IRA, 401k, TSP, or 457.  (These are called qualified plans.)  Many people have a combination of them and perhaps multiple accounts at different places.  And if you’re approaching retirement, you should have some pretty high balances.  ...

The first six months are nearly in for 2023, and the markets are starting well.  Markets try to price in the economy six months ahead of time.  Many analysts are assuming a recession this year, which was probably priced in at the beginning of the year.  It’s what investors think will happen after that recession ...

Welcome to May, when stockbrokers sell and go away.  This old saying is not as relevant today as a few decades ago when floor traders on Wall Street would vacation for the month in the Hamptons.  I imagine eleven straight months of screaming and shouting (bids and asks) at each other would take its toll. Historically, ...

Last week an economist said something to the effect that inflation is cancer and higher interest rates are chemotherapy.  Higher interest rates are not good, but inflation is much worse, and it must be kept under control.  Inflation is a serious threat to any economy.  And controlling it is under the purview of our government–it ...

July 1, 2022 The first six months of 2022 saw the S&P 500 decline 23.6% from its all-time high at 4,796.56 on January 3 to a closing low (so far) of 3,666.77 on June 16.  The S&P “officially” hit bear market territory around June 13, when it ended the day 22% below that record high on ...

June 1, 2022 Welcome to June and the beginning of summer in three weeks.  Last month, when it was all said and done, there was a lot more said than done.  The markets did their best impression of a wire with a weighty tightrope walker.  The S&P 500 opened May at 4,130.61 and sagged to as ...