In our country today, we worry about everything that might happen to us or our loved ones even if the odds are ten million to one. Why? If one bad thing happens anywhere, especially to children, we know about it within a few minutes to a few hours. Another group [...]
Mr. Market is often fickle in the short term. I have already complained about the roller coaster rhythms of 2014 leading many (including me) to be too cautious, as it turned out. Last weekend, a Kansas RIA colleague and I were consoling each other about being judged by the exact [...]
First let me say that nothing in life, not even life, is guaranteed to any of us. And of course, let’s all say it together: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Period. End of story. But then tell me, What is a better predictor of the future than [...]
Regular readers of this column know I often discuss the four year presidential cycles and their effect upon stock market performance. Although I knew intellectually that 2014 had every statistical right to be difficult and negative—the worst of each cycle—that does not seem to help much if one is perfectionistic. [...]
Years ago, comedienne Gilda Radner wrote a book about her life and fight against ovarian cancer called, It’s Always Something! These days, one could say the same about reasons for predictions that the stock market must fall down. As a friend in the building said this morning, a couple of [...]
I had a conversation yesterday with a reader, whom I’ll call John, of this column and apparently many other newspapers. I often get nice comments, but those are usually from friends and acquaintances. John and I had some trouble connecting over the past couple of weeks, but I wanted to [...]
As millions of baby boomers are in or close to retirement, we should know more about social security benefits than we do. In one national survey, over 70 percent said that they knew the basics of the program, but less than 30 percent actually did. I was glad to have [...]
Last week I gave some reasons why I am still bullish about the stock market. Let’s look at some other good news for these United States you probably won’t see anywhere else. Great changes are occurring in our global competitiveness. Boston Consulting Group reports from its survey of senior manufacturing [...]
My forecast first: the sky is not falling and we will carry on. Regular economic principles will trump fear and behavioral financial principles, and the stock market will continue its bullish trend during the fourth quarter. I did not want you to have to sit with bated breath until the [...]
September is College Savings Month. Therefore, today let’s focus on Section 529 College Savings Plans. There are several good vehicles for this, but these get the most press. We will discuss others in the near future. Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code was enacted by Congress in 1996 to [...]
