Everything You Need to Know About Social Security

My Comments: The monthly income my wife and I get from SSA is a significant part of our financial freedom. We paid into the system for 50 plus years and while I like to think I’m just getting my money back, it’s really much more than that. As a financial planner and investment advisor for …

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Checking Up On Obamacare

My Comments: I started my career in financial services 40 years ago selling health insurance policies. I’ve long since lost track of the number of individuals, families and businesses I’ve worked with to give them proper coverage. My alarming memory over the years, until recently, was the dramatic rise in premiums from year to year. …

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Andre The Giant

My Thoughts: Happened across an article about Andre the Giant yesterday. I remembered an event from  about 25 years ago while in the Atlanta airport. It was in a departure area with lots of people milling about, all of waiting to board. I glimpsed, perhaps 50 feet away, a face I thought I recognized from …

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The Fed: Mission Accomplished?

My Comments: I think the Fed's raising interest rates the other day is more symbolic than meaningful. The follow on events were/are inevitable. As usual, life does not move in a straight line. And like death and taxes, interest rates had to eventually move off Zero where they’ve been for many, many months. So moving …

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The Fed’s Rate Hike – What it Means

My Comments: In the past months and years I’ve featured the comments of Scott Minerd, the Chairman of Investment and CIO of Guggenheim Partners. This organization is not big, relatively speaking, as they ONLY have about $250 billion under management. (I could live very well on a tiny fraction of what that amount earns every …

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The Rise of Liberal Intolerance in America

My Comments: I’ve been a Florida registered Democrat since I first registered to vote back in 1962. Back then you had to be registered as a Democrat if you wanted to participate in the primary elections. Republicans only showed up on the November ballot. Democrats lay claim to a higher level of tolerance for those …

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New Social Security Claiming Rules

My Comments: Social Security has become a fundamental element in the lives of virtually every American on the planet. Those of us old enough to have started taking monthly payments could only gasp if they were taken away. I guess there are some who wouldn't give a damn. But still... The rules just enacted limit …

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Why Things Could Soon Get Ugly For Stock Investors

My Comments: Another voice predicting woe and gloom. I’ve tried to protect myself and my clients but there are no guarantees. By Scott Barlow on Wednesday, Dec. 09, 2015 We’re about to find out what happens when a market rally built on a foundation of cheap borrowing rates is faced with the end of a …

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Russia Running Out Of Money

My Comments: Global media is full of woe and gloom about the near term economic future of the US and the rest of the planet. This has the potential to add to that gloomy forecast. I have strong memories of the Cold War and the threat posed by the Soviet Union. While the Soviet Union …

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Investing In Our Families

My Comments: When I saw this, I was surprised. When you have family wealth of many billions, you don’t expect to see a nuanced economic commentary. It’s refreshing to see someone clearly at the very top of the economic pile, writing in recognition of those near the bottom. Of course, it helps that if those …

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