Get Ready For The Biggest Margin Call In History

My Comments: Like a broken clock that is right twice every 24 hours, I’ve been talking about the probability of us having a severe market correction for the past 12 months or more. It’s obviously not happened yet. But every time I turn around, there are new observations from people who understand this better than …

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Rioting In The Streets Of Gainesville?

My Comments: The blog post title above comes from me; the one that actually accompanied the article is Public Pensions Face New Challenges As We Live Longer. Huh? As a financial planner, I try to make people aware of the existential threats we face as we all grow older. These threats are things that “might” …

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If Trees Don’t Grow To The Sky: The Next 6 Years

My Comments: You’ve read my earlier comments about whether the world we now live in is a different world. The details have changed, but the fundamentals have not. The following article will cause you to think twice if have not made plans for your money to be protected going forward. Charlie Bilello, Pension Partners, Mar. …

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Euro: Parity Like It’s 1999

My Comments: The writer featured here provides, in my judgment, the most insightful reflections on what is happening economically across the globe. It appears here without his permission, but unless and until I’m told not to share them with you, I plan to continue. March 20, 2015 / Commentary by Scott Minerd, Guggenheim Partners Europe …

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Why Invest in Real Estate?

My Comments: This is a topic about which I know relatively little. But it’s real, people do make money, sometimes lots of it, and over the few years since the crash that started in 2008, some folks have made tons of money. The dramatic opportunities are probably behind us for a while as after several …

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This Too Shall Pass

My Comments: The daily grind of figuring out if you are going to make or lose money today can become tiresome. It’s the primary reason most of us turn the responsibility over to others. We tend to hope we made a good decision and leave it alone. It’s one reason I never subscribed to the …

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The Great Monetary Expansion

My Comments: Dozens of emails cross my desk daily, some promoting stuff that is clearly not relevant, many with a narrow focus that is largely self-serving, few of them truly informative. Those that come from Scott Minerd and Guggenheim Partners are usually worth paying attention to. They’re not too long, and they seem to have …

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A Stand-in For The Fiduciary Standard?

My Comments: I apologize for continuing to push this issue. But as a fiduciary, I’m bound to give advice that results in what is best for the client, legally, morally and ethically. That Wall Street firms resist this is not in your best interest. Meanwhile, I received an angry call this week from a group …

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Rate Hike Rally

My Comments: Interest rates and where they are going is a relatively hot topic. For those of you with savings accounts and Certificates of Deposit know, the returns you get are anemic at best. But if you need to borrow money for whatever reason, low interest rates are good. Since there is an expectation that …

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The Glass Ceiling on Rates

My Comments: I’ve recently shared this chart with you that shows the historical ups and downs on interest rates in this country going back 224 years. They have been trending down since 1981, a long time. Right now they are nearly zero. When this happened in the past, they began an upward climb until they …

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