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. […]
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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 […]
The 2-Minute Thought: What Does It Mean To Live For 100 Years?
Laura Carstensen, director of Stanford’s Center on Longevity, wrote in a recent column that reaching age 90 or even 100 is well within reach for many millennials. As a result, millennials will be the first generation ever to spend a third of their lives as what we now call “old people.” That has big implications. […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Great salespeople are a competitive bunch
Highly productive salespeople are confident and ambitious. They have a plan for themselves. They are driven by money. They care about how others perceive them. And they are pretty interesting characters. Just read Steve W. Martin’s brief piece in Harvard Business Review called “A Portrait of the Overperforming Salesperson.” Martin teaches sales strategy at USC’s […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Why Do We Think We’re So Right When We’re So Wrong?
Please note that The 2-Minute Thought will be on holiday for 2 weeks and will resume July 7. Consider these poll results recently cited in The Economist: Americans think 33% of the population are immigrants – the actual number is 14%. Britons think 24% of their population is Muslim – the actual number is 5%. […]
Who’s In Your Corner?
The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued a new Rule for advisors dealing with retirement accounts. Some background is in order here. Advisors are held to a legal standard of conduct when dealing with investors. But different advisors are held to different standards. Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) which we are, are held to a “fiduciary” […]
