My Comments: For most of my adult life, the major player among brokerage firms in the US was Merrill Lynch. Actually I remember it as Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith. Then the crash happened in the fall of 2008 and Bank of America acquired ML on 1/1/2009. The cynic in me said that BoA …
Continue reading The ‘Great Bull’ market is ‘dead,’ and here’s what’s next, Bank of America predicts
Tony’s Friday Blog = Random Thoughts: This advice from Kaitlin Menza applies not only to millenials but to baby boomers and earlier (of which I am one). But especially to those of you with many years to live. Inertia is an insidious problem for many of us. We have money in a ‘safe’ place and …
My Comments: It’s Thursday when I post about RETIREMENT. You’ve heard me say time and again that retirement planning needs to assume one of you (if you have a spouse) is going to be around until age 100. And in every one of those years between now and then, everything you buy will increase in …
Continue reading One of the Oldest Rules for Retirement Saving Is Wrong, Experts Say. Here’s the Fix
My Comments: On Wednesday I usually talk about Globla Economics. Today, however, I’m less concerned about emerging markets than I am the evolution of ideas that influence what is happening on Wall Street. Yes, it’s influenced by the hiccups we see in emerging markets globally but the political and economic forces at work in this …
My Tuesday Comments on Social Security: Some of us remember what happened in 1983 when Congress was sane and was facing a financial crisis. Within the span of six years, which happened to be the same six year election cycle of the Senate, the system was expected to crash. So bending to common sense, Congress …
Continue reading How Social Security’s Troubles Could All Just Go Away
My Monday Comments: All my clients, at least those who haven’t left me for greener pastures, are all concerned about the future of their money. Like me, most of them are going to need their money to pay bills as their years unfold. Losing a big percentage in a market crash makes us nervous. In …
Continue reading When Is The Next U.S. Recession And Bear Market?
My Comments: I have an interest in the immigration debate. I’m an immigrant, granted US citizenship on May 1, 1959. As I read horror stories about parents and others being deported, it has crossed my mind that I’m at risk. Probably not, but with ICE nosing about, who knows? It’s not just the New York …
Continue reading Check your math, central banker says: less immigration equals less growth
My Comments: Today is Wednesday and my topic is, as usual, ‘global economics’. The decline of the middle class has not happened overnight. It brings to mind the phrase ‘watching grass grow’ or ‘watching a car turn to rust’. You know it happens, but from day to day, you never notice any change. And what’s …
My Comments: Known as the Great Recession, to distinguish it from the Great Depression, the financial crisis that ended in the first week of March in 2009 was a multi-generational event. The chances of us having another one before I die in a few years is slim to none. But that does not mean no …
Continue reading Ten years after Lehman Brothers, spotting the next crisis
My Comments: Under the Obama administration, a long awaited and necessary step was taken to introduce rules that protected consumers of investment advice. It created a fiduciary standard for licensed financial professionals that formalized a ‘best interest’ mindset for professionals when working with clients. Very soon after Trump became president, he announced this idea was …
Continue reading The Fiduciary Rule Is Dead. What’s an Investor to Do Now?
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