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 [...]
Last week my wife and I had the opportunity to enjoy Thanksgiving with our son and his family in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had expected that with less attention and trading, the stock indexes would fall back a bit. But it was full speed ahead for stocks and lower [...]
I have been writing a Thanksgiving column long enough now to be a tradition. Since pilgrim time, and again since 1863, Thanksgiving in these United States is a great tradition itself. It is our best holiday now especially because, other than perhaps decorations and flower arrangements, there are no expensive [...]
Much has been written about the increasing waistline of the average American but not as much time has been spent on the state of our financial wellbeing. Just as food with saturated fats and our sedentary culture are harming our health, our consistently low savings rate with corresponding high debt [...]
Many people use the beginning of a new school year like the New Year’s holiday, as an opportunity to think about ways that they can improve their lives through new and changed habits. Let me suggest that rather than making a drastic change that you focus on some small things [...]
Monday the S&P 500 finally topped its previous high. Yesterday, it added another .7 percent to 2152. It has been a tumultuous fourteen months since the prior high of May 21, 2015. This large cap index dropped over 12 percent to its August low, rose over 12 [...]
As I write today I am listening to Fed Chair Janet Yellen say the same things she has said for several years now: Economic conditions are fairly good although growth is very slow, we can’t determine why things are not better, and we are petrified to let the classical economic [...]
