The Cycle of Market Psychology

My Comments: It seems the DOW hits a new record every week and everyone is wondering when the penny is going to drop and once again, we fall into the abyss. Most of us think it will happen, but not anytime soon. Here's another analysis worth reading. By Jeffrey Dow Jones This week (April 8) …

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The Disclosure Paradox: How Much Information Is Too Much?

Too much information can be as harmful to retirement plan decisions as too little. My Comments: Somewhere along the way during my last 40 years in the world of financial services, I read or was told that at some point you have to make a decision. You cannot simply attempt to absorb more and more …

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Record U.S. Stocks at Lowest Valuation Since 1980

My Comments: Many of my clients are elderly clients. For many, their investment horizon going forward is not 20 years or more. They have little need to take what many of them think of as aggressive steps to grow their money. On the other hand, good advisors today are encouraging their clients to be more …

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Clean Electricity from Bacteria? Researchers Make Breakthrough in Race to Create ‘Bio-Batteries’

My Comments: Why, you ask, do I repost an article that on the face of it has nothing to do with investing money, or financial planning or making sure taxes are minimized. Well, because many of you are going to be investing money ten, twenty, and thirty years from now. Your lives will change from …

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Why Emerging Markets? Growth, Demographics and Yield

My Comments: In the early 90’s, I opened a branch here in Gainesville for a company called International Assets Advisor Corporation. This company, headquartered in Winter Park, FL was a leading proponent of having clients invested in markets beyond the US. It was a rather revolutionary idea at the time. The lead broker on the …

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J.P. Morgan Weekly Market Recap – March 11, 2011

The original plan was to post these every week. Some of you like to time the market and this report from J.P.Morgan is perhaps the best summary to help your decision making:

THE ONLY SAFE WITHDRAWAL RATE

My Comments: For many years than I am aware of, there have been “experts” who have expressed their opinion about the optimum rate to withdraw money from accumulated retirement funds. The reason for this is to offset a fear by many of running out of money at some point before you die. Typically, that’s not …

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Investable Assets to Hit $80T by 2017

My Comments: When I saw this number, I had to reach far into my psyche to actually figure out how many dollars we’re talking about. And I’m someone who follows astronomy blog sites from time to time and am used to thinking in terms of billions of light years. It takes some time to get …

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Mixed Signals Give Gold Investors Whiplash

Goldman Sachs declares an end to 12-year run-up of gold, just before Bernanke reaffirms monetary easing My Comments: Gold, in its many forms, from actual coins, to shares of gold mining companies across the globe, has been a strong investment for many people over these past few years. We can argue that it reached bubble …

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Top 4 Commission-Free ETF Platforms

My Comments: I typically start a conversation with someone about investments by suggesting there are two types of investors: Those that want to do it themselves and those who decide they need some help. If they say they prefer to do it themselves, then my comment is usually to the effect that I'll help point …

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