Does the city win when their teams win?
If you are a sports fan, it is an exciting time to be living in the KC metro. Over the past decade we have experienced more than our fair share of national championship victories from our local teams including, the Royals, Sporting KC, the Jayhawks and of course the Kansas [...]
The Kiss Methodology
A few weeks ago, I touched on the subject of budgeting. After which, I had several people ask me about what a typical budget should look like. While every person’s situation is unique, and what you value may be very different from what I value, there are enough universal strategies [...]
Punch Bowl Gone?
For decades, commentators on the Federal Reserve Board (the Fed) have referred to the action of raising federal funds interest rates as taking away the punch bowl at the party. After finally arousing from sleep after the inflation fire was already getting out of control, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has [...]
While painful to hear, ENTITLEMENT REFORM is something Washington must consider.
This past week I taught a seminar on effective budget making. It broke down the basics on proper ratios of spending, saving, giving and debt repayment. As I presented, I jokingly said if I could gain access to Congress, I would love to enlighten Washington on these basic principles. As [...]
Wise Generosity
If you give to any favorite charities, you must wonder by year end whether every dollar you give only buys more paper, ink, and postage for more solicitations. I think it is safe to say that the cards and letters are effective. If they were not, they would not send [...]
Secure 2.0 Revisited
Last week I provided a concise breakdown of the major changes to retirement account regulations brought about by the passage of the SECURE act of 2022. For more information about this new law check out my article on the topic that ran on 1/11. Today however, I wish to comment [...]
Secure 2.0, What’s in it and why it matters
In the midst of all the chaos that comes with the whole Christmas season, you may not have realized that as part of the massive Omnibus Bill signed by Congress to avert a government shutdown, significant legislation was passed related to your retirement accounts. The SECURE Act of 2022 commonly [...]
2022 In Rearview Mirror
Would you agree that most investors are glad to see 2022 in the rearview mirror? Even when one obtains better results than the market in a downtrend, the general feeling is still painful. The drop represents real dollars lost from accounts of real people, even if only for a year [...]
A new Christmas tradition
While it will be several weeks before we have a clear picture on total retail sales this holiday season, we do know that it started very poorly with November sales numbers, typically the highest month of the entire year, actually dropping .6% when compared to October. Many on Wall Street have interpreted [...]
Advantage from Losses
I know that many of you reading this column are investors with a long term perspective who generally hold your positions for years. Therefore, today’s message is particularly for you. Since applying technical analysis is definitely not easy or perfect and is labor intensive, keeping stock, bond, or mutual fund [...]