I enjoyed playing darts when I was in college. The dartboard consists of areas with varying levels of points. Within each of those areas are even smaller targets that represent several multiples of the points listed. I realized one day if I actually aimed directly for the smaller area that [...]
As the son of a baby boomer, retirement has been a regular topic of conversation at my family gatherings recently. Everyone seems to have their own utopic vision of what it will be like when they no longer have to go to work…..except my father. Despite the fact that he [...]
Yesterday I saw a note come through our research headlines about millennial investors finally beginning to move into stock investing. The Legg Mason annual Global Investment Survey was the source of the information. Thanks to Legg Mason, you may access it at https://ww2.leggmason.com/gis/. To save you some time, here is [...]
Once again, the health care debate has heated up in this country. Don’t worry, I’m not going to get political. In fact, I think the inflammatory rhetoric from all those in power has caused us to lose sight of some basic economic principles that govern all industries, including health care. [...]
Thinking of buying a car or truck in the next 2-3 years? Lower prices could be ahead for new and used automobiles with all the ingredients for softer prices. Automakers reported car and light truck sales dropped at a 17.2% annual rate in Q1, the steepest decline since late 2009, [...]
After my column last week discussing the danger of student loan debt, I received a lot of feedback. The reactions ran the gambit from some who were in full agreement to others who felt I was causing unnecessary levels of fear and apprehension. However, the nearly universal sentiment from readers [...]
As a former history teacher I am all too aware that history has a tendency to repeat itself. In fact, it was one of the things that fascinated me most about the subject. Amazingly, some of those same characteristics apply to the world of personal finance and the economy as [...]
None of us need to be reminded that a penny saved is a penny earned. My goal isn’t to tell you what you already know to be true in some elegant way that triggers you to change old habits. I’m no Tony Robbins, so I won’t pretend to be the [...]
Henry Buckley once said “Save a part of your income and begin now, for the man with a surplus controls his circumstances and the man without a surplus is controlled by his circumstances.” We all know we should save for a rainy day. We heard it repeated often by our [...]
Recent financial headlines have focused on the US stock indexes hitting all-time high values most of the days following the US election. You may be experiencing hopes, fears, and concerns around this. Because of this run up, some are saying and you might think that a major collapse is ready [...]
