Rube Goldberg the American inventor and cartoonist was famous for drawing complicated gadgets performing simple tasks. Our health care system is very Rube Goldbergesque. Medicare has not gotten any simpler; in fact it has gotten a lot more complex since its founding in 1965. Medicare does not as of yet include every letter in the […]
News & Insights
Threats Are Everywhere…
It’s been said that everyone’s social security number probably has been compromised and is somewhere out there on the dark web. While we can’t know for sure, more than one security expert has said it’s a safe assumption that your identity data has been stolen at least once and more likely, multiple times. In other […]
History Does Not Repeat Itself. Man Always Does. – Voltaire…
A quick search on Amazon reveals no fewer than 416 entries on Investor Psychology. These titles cover the range – everything from how to day trade for a living to academically focused studies of investor behavior. Morgan Housel’s just released book, The Psychology of Money, is a welcome change from most books on the subject. […]
What’s Trending In China Today?…
Six decades ago during the ‘Four Pests’ Campaign in China all conversation would stop if you heard the buzzing of a fly. Only after the fly was dispatched would conversation continue. More recently if a Westerner wanted to bring conversation to a halt, all they needed to do was show off a tattoo. Traditional China […]
China And The U.S….The COVID Comeback….How Soon? How Fast?…
In my class on Personal Finance at the University of Vermont I tell students that they are very lucky. America is just 4% of the world’s population but it produces (inside our borders) 25% of everything produced in the world. America is still a powerhouse. But with COVID-19 we have another distinction that is not […]
Breakin’ Up Is Hard To Do…
W e hear all the time from reporters and news anchors how the market has performed. But what exactly do we consider the “market”? There are many options but when it comes to the granddaddy of all market indexes, we need to refer to the Dow Jones Industrial Average or DJIA for short. Created in […]
The Evolution of Energy Markets…
Over most of the last 60 years, oil company holdings were considered a core part of every diversified equity portfolio. While economically sensitive, the general upward trend in global energy consumption meant investors could count on earnings growth to support higher share prices and a steady flow of above average dividends over time. Savvy investors […]
Cash is King or Cash is Trash?..
At the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic it looked like cash was headed for the trash bin. Bills are dirty and who really wants to handle cash every time you make a purchase? Much cleaner and safer to use a debit or credit card. Cash usage did drop slightly this winter and spring as a […]
Wall Street Versus Main Street…Is There Something I’m Missing Here?…
Is this crazy or what? On the one hand we are in the middle of the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression and the worst medical crisis since the 1918 Pandemic. At the same time the S&P 500 has increased nearly 4% this year and the Nasdaq Composite is up a whopping 22%. We […]
Finding Your Way While Bewildered…
“Investing is simple, but not easy,” goes the famous Warren Buffett quote – a lovely, concise way of stating an old truth. But not much these days seems simple or easy. In investing and the world at large, enduring beliefs have been getting tested. Eric wrote on page 2 about why the stock market could […]
Silver Linings…
There has been no shortage of COVID-related bad news lately, especially if you google ‘Emerging Markets.’ Four of the top five virus hotspots are in developing countries. Industries crucial to many emerging economies are among the worst hit: tourism has been all but cancelled; low demand for oil and other commodities persists. Even with more […]
“For It Is In Giving That We Receive…”
Ah, food for the soul from Francis of Assisi. Wonderful advice for us personally but not necessarily helpful advice if you are a State Treasurer in the U.S. States and municipalities are reeling today financially and trying to squeeze blood from every turnip. They need cash and they need it quick, especially from Washington. We […]
