Our family of five needs a new car and we’re considering, for the first time, an Electric Vehicle (EV). If you haven’t done research into EVs, the terminology can be confusing. There’s charging, range, tax credits, and kilowatt-hours. Start by reviewing unbiased rankings of EVs by Edmunds or Consumer Reports. Many car concepts will begin […]
Arthur Wright
Preparing To Live For 100 Years…
I t seems hard to foresee what life will look like in the year 2124, but on average, a child born today will live to see such a world. Let that sink in for a moment. Life expectancy has been increasing over time. People today die at around 80, 30 years ago it was 74, […]
And Preparing In Case You Don’t…
Notwithstanding what we just wrote about average life expectancy being on the rise, we all are unique individuals on our own trajectory. Preparing to live a long happy life is important, but so is preparing for unknowable occurrences. Unpleasant as it may be, not preparing for death or disability will upend the best-intentioned plans. Estate […]
R.I.P 60/40…
For decades investors have relied on a simple and practical investment approach, the “60/40 portfolio,” to achieve long-term investment goals. The simplicity is elegant and historical results, powerful. In its most simplified form, the 60/40 portfolio is 60% large-cap U.S. stocks and 40% U.S. government bonds. The American Association of Individual Investors, or AAII, has […]
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 […]
A Tale of Two COVID Investor Trends…
Have come to light recently during these extraordinary times. The first is a substantial increase in people day-trading stocks and the second is the surprising lack of activity in 401(k) accounts. These two things are moving in completely different directions on the behavioral spectrum, one exploding with euphoria and the other about as boring as […]
Does Debt Matter Anymore?..
There are two methods by which a country may achieve an annual spending budget. First funds can be raised through taxation of citizens and businesses. The second is to borrow. Historically a prudent monetary policy would not utilize the second option unless there is an emergency, like war or economic recessions. Yet we find ourselves […]
Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Choice?…
A good friend of mine who was hosting a party asked my advice on selecting two entrée items and some hors d’oeuvres based on the catering company’s offerings. No problem, I like food. What I encountered was page upon page of great sounding options. I quickly marked the items to revisit but before I knew […]
The Reason We Save…
Is because we have a certain level of confidence that the future is bright and to enjoy those positive prospects we must be prepared. But what happens when an entire generation starts feeling less optimistic about the future? Younger people around the globe are tending to favor spending now in place of more responsible saving […]
In Case You Haven’t Heard…
Our population is getting older and doing so at a quicker pace than was projected in the past. For the first time in U.S. history there are more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 5. Here in Vermont this has led to a recent downgrade in our sterling AAA bond […]
Best to Sit for This Ovation…
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra recently concluded the longest labor strike in its prestigious 128 year history. The issue at the heart of the dispute was the future of the pension plan offered to musicians. While pensions have become quite scarce in the private sector, they remain a cornerstone among the nation’s leading orchestras. Earlier this […]
The Times They Are A Changin’…
This past summer, Vermont became the ninth state to legalize marijuana and the first to do so via state legislature. Once a taboo topic, cannabis is going mainstream. A 2018 Pew Research Poll found that 62% of Americans believe that cannabis should be legalized; this is the highest number in the last 50 years. There […]
