Prudence and Preparation Are Important
I’m a planner, I always have been. Perhaps it’s my pessimistic nature, but generally speaking, I assume things left to chance will turn out badly. For that reason I live by the credo “hope for the best, but plan for the worst.” As you might imagine, threats like the coronavirus [...]
Many options in forming a tax strategy
It’s tax season again. As part of Stewardship Capital’s continued focus on giving back to the community, I recently became a certified tax preparer through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. In cooperation with the Community Services League, I volunteer to provide free tax preparation services to low-income and elderly [...]
Sound Principles Still Hold Value
In all areas of life, there are principles to be learned and applied. Finance is no exception. Many bedrock fundamentals found in the Bible have proven their worth over the past two thousand years or more. One is diversification. Spelled out in Ecclesiastes 11, verse 2, Solomon counsels, Divide your [...]
Don’t Just Wait and See, Make it Happen!
Monday was the Iowa caucus. I think some of the great things that come out of this early campaign stop are the one-on-one conversations candidates get to have with everyday people. Many of you might have seen a video recently that went viral on social media capturing an interaction between [...]
Will the Market Catch the Coronavirus?
Coronavirus is spreading around the globe and the world stock market has pulled back from the recent strong rally that started in the second half of 2019. It’s natural to be concerned from a health and wealth perspective. We have seen similar experiences in the past with SARS, bird flu, [...]
The Virtue and Value of Embracing Simplicity
Albert Einstein once said “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” From time to time people will compliment me on my column. My favorite thing to hear is that I have broken down a complicated subject to something even they could understand. Perhaps it is [...]
What Ever Happened to Diversification? Part II
Last week I opined concerning the dangers of the supposedly conservative strategy du jour, that of having only guaranteed, fixed income investments such as bonds, CD’s, or fixed annuities. Today we will look back at relative performance of different assets during the Teens decade to see if, even during the [...]
What Ever Happened to Diversification?
Perhaps there have always been preachers of one solitary investment asset class. I remember Howard Ruff with his Ruff Times touting gold, silver and survival tips. He was correct about inflation in the later 1970s. (According to Dr. Mark Skousen, millions of dollars went through his hands in the 1970s [...]
The Decade that Was, and the One to Come
What a difference a year and a decade make! Last year at this time the market had quickly dropped 20% lower over recession and trade war fears. Fast forward a year and we are at all-time highs with record holiday spending, signed a newer version of NAFTA, and about to [...]
The Choices You Make Matter Greatly
According to a recent study conducted by BankRate, low-income individuals spend nearly half of their annual income on vices. The findings of this study really shocked me. In my opinion, it serves as further evidence that irresponsible personal behavior is the leading cause of long-term poverty in the United States. [...]