New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time again. The time when we make resolutions for the New Year. Resolutions are things we want to change. I resolve to… Resolutions are your goals for the coming year. Write them down on paper – in ink. Committing goals to paper makes them more concrete than goals we merely hold in our […]
New Year Predictions
Every year about this time, the popular press comes out with predictions for the new year. We all know that no one has a crystal ball but we read them anyway. Happily, Google never forgets. Here are some of the predictions made for 2016. Trump falls out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination […]
Average is not Normal
Over the last 80 years the stock market has advanced an average of 10% each year, but average is not normal when it comes to the stock market. The table pictured on the left shows the actual returns for the S&P 500 each year since 1975. How many of those returns were 10%? How […]
How Equity Index Annuities Work
Bob Clark, a columnist for Investment Advisor magazine, recently said, “…the role of advisors is to protect their clients from the financial services industry”. Many times the products pushed by the large financial service firms do more harm to investors than good. The “hot” product du jour is currently the Equity Index Annuity. While the […]
What are ABLE Accounts?
Individuals with special needs and families that seek to help, have long been hamstrung by the Catch 22 of public assistance. If a family provides too much financial assistance, the beneficiary loses access to government assistance. If the family does not help the individual may suffer from lack of access to housing and education. For […]
So You Think You’re Smart
Think Janet Yellen has an easy job? The San Francisco federal reserve has published a web game to let you see how smart you really are. In the game your job is to keep inflation in check and unemployment low by adjusting short term interest rates. The game can help you understand the basics of […]
Talking Heads Fed Watch
Well, we just had another Fed Watch orchestrated by the financial media. Did you miss it. I hope so. The fed did not raise interest rates today in spite of all the speculation by the TV talking heads. I cannot guess the man hours that are wasted pontificating about what the fed should or should […]
What Happens When all the Jobs are Gone?
This image shows the damage that can be done to employees when new technology transforms the way work is done. Self driving vehicles are coming. We are not there yet, but five years ago a self driving car wasn’t even a thing. The most common job in America, the truck driver, is about to go […]
The Financial Olympian
As the Summer Olympics in Rio kicked offed this past weekend, it is time again for us to marvel at the prowess of the best athletes in the world. They deserve all the awe we can muster, training that hard for that long- many of them all their lives- to finally compete for their respective countries […]
Sell in May and Go Away…
How many times have you heard that old adage on CNBC? How’s that working out for you?
