What is investing success? How do we know when we’re doing really well? Most of us would say that success is when our investment returns are better than whatever we choose to compare them to. We may compare them to a specific benchmark like the S&P500, or to how others around us doing, but no […]
News
Things You May Have Missed in 2014
When I think about the past year, a number of significant events come to mind; the heart-wrenching Ebola outbreak in Africa, the simmering conflict in Ukraine and rise of ISIS, the al Qaeda splinter group that has gained power across much of Syria and Iraq. But while all of these developments were justifiably headline grabbing, […]
The China Speed Read
China is important today. Julie is writing about it on page 4 and I give you three snippets here that have been in the news recently and may be of interest. How big is big? China’s development since 1979 is for the record books. No country in history has pulled as many people out of […]
Great News – A Life Extended
The chart below is music to our ears. If you are fortunate enough to get to 65, the tables say you are going to live two years longer on average than the same tables predicted in 2000. Advances in medicine for the two biggest killers, heart disease and cancer, have certainly helped. And further good […]
We Are The New China
Well not exactly but it is looking more like this. For many years China was the engine of the world. It was reassuring to see China growing 10% to 12% per year while we in the developed world were stumbling from one Bubble to another. Now the tables have turned a bit. China is still […]
Luck Runs Out for Macau’s Casinos
After years of light-speed growth, gambling in Macau is finally taking a breather. This is the first year ever that gambling revenue in the Chinese territory has fallen, and the slowdown has been significant. October, the fifth straight month of dwindling business, was the worst decline in history. And the stock prices of Macau’s big […]
Sven Eklof attends course on Social Security
Sven attended the UVM Extension School course What Your Clients Should Know About Social Security with expert Peter Weinbaum, JD, as the instructor. Weinbaum is known as the “Social Security Maven.” The course reviewed Social Security Income and how to maximize the benefit depending on the situation. Spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and the importance of […]
The State of the Language
There is good news and bad news about English today. If you are a native speaker then the news is good. English is the global language today and its lead over all others is growing not shrinking. French has been a competitor in diplomacy and also at the Olympics but its importance is receding. Chinese […]
Emotions on Parade
Barron’s reported recently that Ray DeVoe had died. Ray was a long time market commentator. I first ran into his material at Spencer Trask back in the 1970’s. The DeVoe Report was always thought provoking, often amusing and a must read in a world so full of throw away commentary. Ray came up with what […]
California Dreamin’ About Enough Water
Serious drought. Help save water. That’s a message you’ll see everywhere in California, including the Amber Alert signs on highways that normally are used for emergencies. California is in one of its worst droughts ever. More than 80% of the state is in “extreme” drought according to the National Weather Service, and 58% is in […]
Moving The Ball Forward
Investors reading press reports on the U.S. economy have good reason to be confused. On the one hand, the U.S. looks in pretty good shape when compared to its European and Asian counterparts; most of Europe appears on the brink of recession and economic growth in China continues to slowly decelerate. But, relative to historic […]
Eric Hanson: Guest Lecturer at UVM School of Business
On September 24th Eric Hanson was the guest lecturer at Professor Lauck Parke’s Business 010 – The Business Enterprise. This course is an overview of business and required of every incoming freshman intending to major in Business at the University of Vermont.
