What’s the Emergency?
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 [...]
Capitalism at Its Finest
Our present culture, especially media, generally views business through a dirty lense. I watch too many who-dunit television programs and if there is a corporate exec, business owner, or even professional person in the cast, two-thirds of the time there is your evildoer. The only thing to flesh out is [...]
Application of the January Effect
For long term readers of this column, you might remember the stock market January Effect from prior years. The basic premise is that if the stock market is higher after the first five trading days of January, and if it ends the month higher than the end of December, odds [...]
Climbing A Wall of Worry
I must be getting very mature in annual lap counts. Even though I do not feel old at all, the New Year’s Day celebrations are clicking off with but a few days in between them. Seems like a couple of months ago that I was saying good riddance to 2015 [...]
What Goes Up Might Stay Up
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 [...]
Next Right Thing?
In 60 plus years of this life, I have learned a few things. Some things work. Some things do not work, or they do not work well. It is a great idea to try to learn the difference between those as soon as possible. It is also a wonderful trait [...]
The IRS Calling?
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 [...]
Giving Thanks for People
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 [...]
Market and Politics
Is there a link between the markets and our next President? Is it really the economy, stupid? Could it be that utilizing polls or stock market indicators to gain an edge won’t give us an answer this time? After all, polls leading into the most anticipated Presidential debate of our [...]
Financial Willpower
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 [...]