My Comments: Campaign promises are usually pretty hollow expressions of what a candidate ‘would like’ to have you believe. If you win, then you can be held accountable. If you lose, then they are typically forgotten. Last evening, President Obama gave us his 2015 State of the Union address. I did not watch it. My …
Tag: financial advice
Supply Shock and Awe
My Comments: The driving economic story these days is about the price of oil. That the sudden and dramatic drop will have global repercussions is a given. The challenge for financial planners is how to help clients take advantage of these repercussions. Right now, having a few hundred extra bucks to spend on something else …
Economic Data Releases
My Comments: These data points come from Guggenheim Partners. For some of you this is meaningless nonsense; for others, a quick review is intented to give you a glimpse of what is happening in the world, including the US. To put some of this in perspective, I saw an article this weekend that compared the …
Hedge Fund Manager Who Remembers 1998 Rout Says Prepare for Pain
My Comments: This is another example of an article that talks about what might happen to our investments in 2015. For many of us advisors, there is an increasingly pervasive odor surrounding the markets. It has nothing to do with the solid economy developing here in the US. The odor, however, is giving me an …
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2015 PPACA Compliance Checklist
My Comments: It’s hard to believe the PPACA has been around for so long. And in spite of the new Congress making lots of noises about making it go away, it’s not going to go away. Will it change? Most definitely. Are changes necessary? Most definitely. But the overall intent to bring millions of Americans …
Student Debt Poised To Crimp U.S. Economy
My Comments: I received my undergraduate degree in 1963, which was a long time ago. I had a part time job and my parents covered the rest. Selfishly, I never even thought about any sacrifice they might have been making. It was never an issue. Since then, I’ve spent most of my adult life in …
The Joy of Being Older…
My Comments: It’s a cold, gray day here in Gainesville, Florida. The rest of the country, except perhaps the West coast, is suffering too but at least we have no snow. Maybe I can add a little levity to what has so far been a frantic week. BTW that's me on January 1, 1942. 1. …
How Old Was That Shoeshine Boy Again?
My Comments: As we start the new year, and review the annual statements that will soon arrive, most of us are painfully aware that managed portfolios didn’t do very well in 2014. As an advisor, I keep asking myself how I justify charging my clients a fee when the results are consistently poor. More than …
A Tale of Two Markets
My Comments: Yesterday the price of oil dropped below $50 per barrel for the first time in a long time. The stock market dropped. In earlier posts about the price of oil, I suggested there was good news and bad news associated with the drop in the price of gas at the pump. Now that …
The Next Great Market Meltdown
My Comments: My hope for the future about this is that I will be wrong. But I’m also aware that hope is not a very effective investment strategy. So, apart from my hope that you and yours have a spectacular 2015, it’s tempered by my expectations of reality. This writer is well known to those …
Helping Define Your Financial Future 