September 2018
There’s No Better Time Than Now to Buy Gold and Silver
One of the temptations that most investors fall prey to is the temptation to check the value of their investment portfolio on a daily basis. When prices rise significantly, they feel great; when prices drop significantly, they feel like they made a bad decision. But looking at things in the short term is never a good way to think...
Avoid Making These 5 Retirement Planning Mistakes
Retirement planning is one of those things that is necessary for everyone to do, but that everyone hates actually having to do. The myriad options available in terms of investment assets, the multiple firms competing for your business, and the knowledge that making a mistake could costs you thousands of dollars of your hard-earned money puts so much pressure...
Rising Interest Expenses Mean the Government Will Lose Control Over the Budget
It’s no secret that the US government has a problem with spending and debt. For decades the government has consistently spent more money than it takes in, requiring it to issue debt to fund its operations. Even the so-called years of budget “surpluses” in the late 1990s resulted in increases in the national debt since off-budget deficits outweighed on-budget...
August 2018
How Much Money Will You Really Spend in Retirement?
One of the difficult parts of planning for retirement is figuring out just how much money you’ll need to live on. With no wage income coming in after you retire, your income stream will depend on what you’ve been able to save and invest over the course of your lifetime, plus any additional income from pensions, Social Security, and...
New Fed Chairman Is Just as Clueless as All the Others
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell attended his first Jackson Hole symposium as Chairman last week. His inaugural speech to the Kansas City Fed’s annual event was widely anticipated and closely watched by market observers. And to no one’s surprise, his understanding of the economy is just as flawed as that of his predecessors. Rather than understanding the economy as a...
When Everyone Says We’re Not in a Bubble, That Means We’re in a Bubble
Some of the highest-flying stocks of the past few years have been tech stocks. With the rise of cryptocurrencies and the creation of “disruptive” companies such as Uber and Airbnb, investors have been falling all over themselves in an attempt to cash in on the latest tech boom. Whether it’s investing in newer companies such as Tesla or established...
Are Millennials Really Different From Previous Generations?
The millennial generation, those born between about 1981 and 1996, has been the subject of a lot of press. Millennials differ significantly from their parents in their consumption patterns, particularly when it comes to homeownership. If you’ve been keeping tabs on the housing market in the past few years, you probably are aware that housing prices continue to rise...
President Trump Continues to Pressure the Fed
Only a few days before Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is set to deliver his first address to the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole summer gathering, President Trump has made it increasingly clear that he isn’t happy with the Fed continuing to raise interest rates. According to Trump, “I’m not thrilled with his raising of interest rates, no.” Of course,...