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 […]
News & Insights
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” […]
O.K. Time To Get Over It…
Donald Trump is for real. When he first declared as a candidate, charging that Mexico was sending us its thieves and rapists, everyone laughed at his political naivete. Then when the primary season began no one thought that he had a chance against the mainstream favorite, Jeb Bush. And now that he has become the […]
What you should know about stock returns…
What really drives stock returns? 1) Well first it is not GDP growth. This one may come as a surprise. Many people think GDP growth is key to stock returns but as shown in Chart 1, from Ben Inker of asset manager GMO, there is no discernible relationship between a country’s GDP growth and its […]
The Next Tool in the Tool Chest
Historically, the U.S. economy has grown about 3% a year. But since 2008, there has been a marked downshift to the 1%-2% range. How best to get the patient up and out of bed? Growing the nation’s workforce would spur economic growth but the prospects here appear limited due to our low birth rates and […]
The 2-Minute Thought: Do Liberal Arts Majors Become Great Investors?
Is liberal arts education good preparation for becoming an investor? Perhaps . . . George Soros majored in philosophy. So did activist investor Carl Icahn. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, majored in political science. Peter Lynch studied history, psychology, and philosophy. Stephen Schwartzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group, had his own interdisciplinary major incorporating […]
