Confused about ESG? : PART II
The promises of ESG do not match the performance Ours is a world of paradox. Things like facts you recently thought were settled long ago are now suspect or judged to be incorrect based upon eyes of the beholders. (We will not dwell upon the fact that the most recently [...]
You Need A Partner During Scary Times
The past month or so have been quite volatile with the recent failures of several regional banks include Silicon Valley Bank. While things have seemed to stabilize in the past couple of weeks, it did serve as yet another reminder that the world of finance can be a scary one. [...]
Are American White Collar Jobs at Risk?
As our economy has increasingly become globalized over the past several decades there have certainly been many winners and many losers here in America. While I would argue that increased international trade generally has been a net positive for the prosperity of our nation, it is also a fact that [...]
Confused by ESG? : PART I
In the 20th Century, many important investing principles developed including asset allocation for diversity and the efficient market hypothesis. More recently, politics has risen to cause a shift in the desired measurement of economic welfare. The trendy newcomer is ESG. What is that? ESG is the acronym of Environmental, Social [...]
Blog Post 3/14: Government Induced Crisis #?
Years ago now, in 2009 and following, I joined a small minority of economists critical of the Zero Interest Rate Policy chosen by Ben Bernanke and others in charge of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) to cure the Mortgage Bond crisis. The current crisis is a direct consequence of over [...]
Spring cleaning can be both emotionally and financially beneficial
As I have confessed before in other columns, I have a bad habit of buying things, not because I need them, but because I have found such a good deal. Sadly, the philosophy that says “I’d be a fool not to buy it at this price” can often lead to [...]
More Tough Sledding!
As my friend, Ken Woodruff often says, There are two seasons in Iowa and places north. Winter and tough sledding. The groundhog saw his shadow, but there is an end soon coming to physical winter. The current bear market, not so soon. More tough sledding, until the fourth quarter would [...]
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 [...]