2014 Retrospective
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. [...]
Falling Oil Prices
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 [...]
Letter to Concerned Reader
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 [...]
Social Security Wisdom
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 [...]
Clean Sweep For The VA
President Obama made a fine decision when he nominated Robert A. McDonald as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs in July. McDonald, a West Point Military Academy graduate and Army Captain serving with the 82nd Airborne Division, has spent his civilian career with Procter & Gamble. He rose quickly from [...]
We Voted, Now What?
Everyone except media companies selling advertising will be pleased that today marks the end of the frenzied cycle of campaigning for a few days. True behind-the-scenes strategists might even take off a day before launching the 2016 presidential election campaign. It is back to work, onward and upward, for the [...]
More Good Economic News
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 [...]
Economics at Work
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 [...]
Finally a Correction
We are now experiencing in the equity markets what I have expected for a number of months. Earlier this year, there were drops of 3 to 5 percent in February, April and July, but none showed quite as much selling violence as we have just seen in the past week. [...]
529 College Savings Plans
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 [...]