There are not too many cities that can build expensive subways or other mass transit systems today. China may be the exception but the rest of the urban world is stuck with impossible parking and bumper to bumper rush hour commutes. But there are rays of hope. Curitiba the capital of the Southern Brazilian state […]
News
The Road Less Travelled…
Colombia and Ecuador are not the most popular South American tourist pick. They don’t have the same allure as Carnival in Rio, or Patagonia in Argentina and Chile. But they still have a lot to offer. With diverse climatic regions (ranging from the Amazon to 19,000 foot volcanos to Pacific coast beaches) they are “biodiversity […]
What Good Is a Monarchy Today?…
A few days ago, Emperor Akihito of Japan suggested that he would like to step down from the throne and allow his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, to take over. Japan’s “Chrysanthemum Throne” is the world’s longest running monarchy with a history stretching over 2700 years, and it remains an important source of Japanese identity. But […]
Globalization in the Crosshairs, Again…
Globalization is once again under fire. In the past, developing nations often complained that the benefits of increased global trade flowed disproportionately to the developed world. Today the shoe is on the other foot. Wide swaths of the American public are reacting favorably to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’s proposals to reign in free trade […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Why Healthy Habits Are Hard: Because People, Like Rats, Are Energy Misers
Theresa Marteau, Director of the Behavior and Health Research Unit at Cambridge University, said this in an interview in Ipsos Mori’s publication on behavioral research, “Make It Simple”: “My favourite behavioural insight is that people, like rats, are energy misers – they conserve their finite energy by finding the easiest way to achieve a goal. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Are We Money-Smart? A Simple Quiz Tells Us We’re Not
To test basic knowledge on money matters, the FINRA Investment Education Foundation created a quiz with 6 simple questions that it believed should be easy to answer. The questions cover compounding of interest, inflation, and basic mortgage knowledge. You can take the quiz yourself here. If you get most of the questions right, all is […]
The 2-Minute: Thought Why Selling Stocks Is Much Harder Than Buying Them
Buying and selling stocks should be two sides of the same investment coin: You buy when there is potential for gain and you sell when that potential no longer exists. If you really know why you buy something, you should know when it’s time to sell. But it’s not so simple, is it? Selling carries […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Confessions of an Active Investor
How does an active investor get out of bed in the morning and feel like she has a fighting chance at outperforming the market? These days, it’s very hard. The Financial Times recently quoted active investor Dennis Lynch saying, “If somebody asked me to make the argument for active management, I would find it difficult […]
So What Can We Expect?
We are talking about the stock market here. Keep firmly in mind the quote: “It’s tough to make predictions especially about the future”. This is as apt today as it was when first uttered by Yogi Berra. But we will still venture undaunted into the forecasting abyss. Historically common stocks have returned between 10% and […]
Who is Going to Teach Ethics 101 to HAL?
You remember HAL, the fictional character/computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. She/He/It controlled the systems of the Discovery I spacecraft. Well, HAL is about to come soon to an automobile near you. The recent crash and death of an owner of a Tesla Model S using the Autopilot System has raised a lot of issues […]
A New Look at Reverse Mortgages
If most of your wealth is tied up in your home, does it make sense to tap that wealth in retirement via a reverse mortgage? A reverse mortgage is a type of loan available only to those aged 62 or above. It converts a portion of the equity in your home into cash payments or […]
Pampering Our Pets
Americans have long led the world when it comes to spending money on pets. A recently released survey by the American Pet Products Association shows that this position remains secure with overall pet-related spending reaching a record $60.3 billion in 2015. As the chart below shows, this total represents a 25% increase from just five […]
