In 2020, as the globe was grappling with the first chaotic year of the pandemic, The New York Times ran a feature on a small shop in Kyoto, Japan called Ichiwa that had been operating for over a thousand years by selling the same toasted mochi it always had. The pandemic had reduced visitors to […]
News & Insights
Our not so social, social media…
It has been five years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Recovering from it, whether on an economic, social, or psychological level, has been a slow and uneven process. Some facets of our daily lives, like sporting events and school calendars, have largely returned to their pre-pandemic traditions. But, as the […]
What a difference two months makes…
The Trump administration’s policy actions over the last few weeks have dented confidence in both the U.S. economy and the stock market. This shift towards negativity happened despite President Trump largely sticking to his campaign pledges to implement tariffs and cut government spending. So what has changed since the election to cause the widespread turn […]
“Dia-Mon-D”…
The word comes from the Greek, “Adamus,” meaning unconquerable and indestructible. For centuries this was the case. In 1948, Mary Frances Gerety dreamed up the tagline, “Diamonds are forever.” The catchphrase has lasted for more than half a century. But, as with many things in life, forever is not necessarily forever. About 10 years ago, […]
Are stock prices too high? If so, what then? . . .
The number one question we’ve been asked recently is whether stock prices have climbed too high and are due for a fall. It’s the natural question to ask after the S&P 500 reached 57 new highs last year and just had back-to-back years of 25%+ returns – something that has happened only three other times […]
Is alcohol use drying up?. . .
Alcohol purveyors suffered through a tough start to 2025. Dry January, a campaign to get people to abstain from alcohol for the first month of the year, continues to gain momentum with 75 million American adults expected to have tried the challenge this year. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy piled on with a […]
The second order impact of tariffs…
Investors can be forgiven for tuning out the daily news on America’s ever-evolving trade policies. Hardly a day goes by without reports of either a new proposal or the reversal of an old one. In the face of all this uncertainty, the market consensus seems to be embracing two things. First, trade duties are back […]
Not our usual page one fare…
No stocks, no bonds, no squiggly lines on graphs this time. Just a moral dilemma which was raised in an article in the year-end edition of The Economist. Here goes. You are sitting on a dock with a rescue rope next to you. You see a man floundering in the water. What do you do? […]
Top financial planning topics of 2024…
When it comes to financial planning, no matter what the world throws at us, some questions remain constant. How do I manage my day-to-day finances? How do I prepare for the future? And, perhaps most importantly, how do I deal with life’s curveballs? Sometimes, other topics bubble up, depending on the year, the market, or […]
The case for bonds remains strong . . .
Investors today can be excused for falling out love with bonds. Historically, the asset class has produced 5%-6% returns over the very long term. However, in the year just ended, the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index, a broad measure of the U.S. bond market, squeaked out a 1.4% total return, and over the last five years, […]
What should we worry about now? . . .
In this season of January forecasts, we seldom expect many predictions to hit their mark. After all, in 2023, the nearly universally expected U.S. recession never came, and in 2024, the consensus on interest rates was completely wrong. Still, expert predictions do force us to think about risks, and that may be their real purpose. […]
America and China: How deep is the mistrust?…
This page is not about economics. I really don’t know whether President Trump will put a 100% tariff on goods coming from China or whether China will use its enormous reserve of rare earth minerals as a bargaining chip with us. What I do know, however, is that China-U.S. relations will dominate global politics for […]