News

Worker shortages are a problem. Everywhere. You know it if you’ve been looking to hire – or trying to see a doctor, renovate a kitchen, or pick up your burger and fries. Everything is harder and takes longer when the help is not there. Whether it’s railroad workers or accountants, there just are not enough […]

The Federal Reserve is in the news a lot. With inflation running hot, everyone is trying to figure out how high the Fed will raise interest rates. At Hanson + Doremus, we are not trying to guess where rates end up, but we do think it is important to understand the Fed and its thinking […]

As if rising inflation, a falling stock market, and the possibility of a recession were not enough, now we are here to talk to you about unhappiness. (Spoiler alert, there is hope and a positive spin at the end). But first the unhappy part. The Gallup organization has been asking people in many countries over […]

Word of the year in 2022. The Economist recently reviewed candidates for 2022’s word of the year. The Ukraine war introduced us to newfangled terms like “MANPADS,” “HIMARS,” and “Loitering Munitions.” In grocery stores we have to deal with “Shrinkflation” (the same price but a shrunk product–think candy bars). Facebook (sorry, forgot the new name […]

Back in 1960, America made 100% of the world’s semiconductor chips. Names like Fairchild Semiconductor, Texas Instruments (TI), and eventually Intel dominated. Today we make just 12% of the world’s chips domestically. Before you panic, just remember one reason is that many U.S. companies set up plants abroad to take advantage of lower costs. A […]

Founders of behavioral economics, Daniel Kahneman and his long-time collaborator, Amos Tversky, developed a new understanding of how we make decisions. Despite being a psychologist, Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics for the contributions and challenges that his work on “human judgement and decision-making under uncertainty” made to the field. Classical economics considers humans […]

The U.S. is running out of money! Well not exactly, but the Treasury has run out of borrowing power based on the current debt ceiling of $34.4 trillion. It is using “extraordinary measures” now to extend the time Congress has to approve an increase in the debt ceiling. If Congress doesn’t act by the middle […]

Back at the end of October, Barron’s posed the question, “Is China Investible?” The MSCI China Index had gone nowhere for over 25 years, GDP growth was stagnating under the weight of the zero-Covid policy, the property market was teetering, and the government was clamping down on private entrepreneurs. There was little doubt these policies […]

Americans have long struggled to save enough for retirement, and unfortunately, the recent bout of inflation has not made that job any easier. In a recent survey, online financial publication Bankrate found that 55% of respondents reported feeling behind in their retirement savings, up from 52% last year (see chart below). To help bolster Americans’ […]

Like the rest of the world, we at H+D were glued to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which began November 20 and concluded December 18 with Argentina winning over France in an absolute nailbiter. Like any good organization, we also held an office pool where we vied to predict the outcomes of each World Cup […]

No one has actually asked us for our 2023 forecast, but it is customary this time of year to say something about the upcoming twelve months, so into the abyss we go. The problem is, as Hugh Hendry a British hedge fund manager has said, none of us have been to the future so we […]

It’s not too often we get to introduce a new team member, but this is one of those rare times, and we’re excited. H+D is delighted to welcome Mark Andrews, who joins us as an Associate Portfolio Manager. Mark will be working closely with clients on investments and planning as well as helping with research […]