A major trend in investing over the past decade has been the tremendous growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs have sprouted up to offer investors the ability to invest in a number of different assets, some of which they otherwise would have great difficulty investing in. That has opened up the range of investment options and allowed ordinary investors...
While the mainstream financial media tries to put a rosy spin on the economy and make us believe that everything is going well, under the hood things aren’t looking so good. Forget about mainstream employment numbers such as the unemployment rate or the number of jobs created. The real gauge of the economy’s strength is how much is being...
The time is coming when the dollar will no longer be the world’s reserve currency. In all likelihood it will be the Chinese yuan that replaces the dollar, as China is making moves to internationalize its currency, make it more convertible, and use it in foreign trade with more and more nations. The progress made by the yuan is...
The biggest bubble in the United States today is also the one that hardly anyone knows about, recognizes, or cares about. It’s well known that the response to any financial crisis is to take action to ensure that such a crisis doesn’t occur again. But that means that we’re always fighting the last war. So while the Federal Reserve...
To younger workers the idea of a pension hearkens back to days gone by, when employees spent their entire career with a single company from first hire to retirement. In the modern workplace, with workers ready to jump from company to company in search of better pay or benefits, the idea of a pension seems almost antiquated. And with...
With an intensifying trade war with China, volatility in stock markets, and a yield curve that inverted months ago, all the signs are there that the economy is on rocky footing and heading towards a recession in the near future. But despite all those negative signs, many market analysts continue to point to the job market as a sign...
Every week seems to bring new news that dampens hopes for a resolution to the trade war with China. With President Trump blacklisting more Chinese technology firms due to alleged human rights abuses, China is bound to hit back soon. The country has already reacted to a single tweet by the Houston Rockets’ general manager by cutting back its...
One of the major factors contributing to sky-high stock valuations in recent years has been the performance of tech stocks. Much of the gains in stock markets has come about due to the performance of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Nearly two decades after the burst of the dotcom bubble, investors have forgotten all about the lessons learned...
One of the most frustrating things for investors to see today is that, despite the fact that the US economy is rapidly heading towards recession, stock markets remain at unusually high valuations. While those investors who have already invested in gold to protect their assets are happy about gold’s performance, especially as stocks have plateaued in recent months, they’re...
The secret to a comfortable retirement is to have more money on hand in retirement than you end up spending. But that’s not always easy to do, and every retiree’s greatest fear is running out of money in retirement. That means that to really be secure in retirement you’ll have to build up as large a nest egg as...