5 Reasons Why You Should Be Afraid Of A Bear Market

My Comments: Until I found this, I had never heard of hedgewise.com. I make absolutely no assertion that they know what they are talking about. My personal solution for you is quite different from what you read below, but this part of life is almost always a guessing game. Oct. 30, 2014 http://www.hedgewise.com/ Summary • …

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The Fiendish Bond Market Needs a Radical Rethink

My Comments: In keeping with my recent posts that suggest a strong market correction is coming soon, some readers have suggested the solution is to shift away from stocks into more bonds. I remind them that interest rates have been declining since 1981 and they too will reverse course at some point. When they do, …

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Markets Up or Down Next Five Years?

My Comments: Here’s another cautionary tale to put somewhere in a mental box to look at when you start thinking again about your financial reserves. That another crash will happen is almost certain. What is not certain is when it will happen, so all you can do is decide whether you want help to figure …

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Short-Term Optimism, Longer-Term Caution

My Comments: You by now know that I'm expecting a signficant market correction in the near future. However, when I say that, one has to wonder what I mean by "near". An analogy I sometimes use is a comment by a currency trader I knew years ago. His idea of "near" was in the next …

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Seasonal Factors Ready to Turn Positive

My Comments: This post is about investments and what may happen to your money going forward. My gut told me the downturn in the markets over the last three weeks suggested it was the start of the market correction that all of us expect. You only have to glance at this chart of the S&P500 …

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Stop Tinkering With Your Retirement Portfolio

My Comments: I can’t tell you how many times over the past 40 years that a client has talked with me suggesting something is wrong with his investments. It usually comes after a long run up in the markets and he or she thinks his portfolio is lagging. And almost every time we’ve made a …

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Why Public Investment Really Is a Free Lunch

My Comments: The author of this article, which appeared in the Financial Times, is no stranger to economists, investors, and politicians. My first reaction, however, was that it tends to endorse Keynesian economics, from a source that up to now has argued that the way to achieve economic recovery and more jobs, is for there …

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Social Security Cost-of-living Adjustments Projected to Increase Slightly in 2015

My Comments: Those of us old enough to be taking SSA benefits have experienced minimal increases in the last few years. That’s because the ‘official’ numbers for inflation have been low. There is an argument they should be even lower as a way to keep the so-called SSA reserves from going to empty. In my …

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Why Income Inequality Is a Drag On Economies

My Comments: I’ve written before that it’s my belief that at some point, if income inequality between the haves and the have nots gets too large, social chaos will follow. The spread or relative level of spendable income between these two groups is continuing to widen. So it becomes just a matter of time until …

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What Should We Expect From Our Stock Investments?

My Comments: Lots of questions about the markets these days. I came across this short summary and thought it relevant. I didn’t understand the chart until after I finished reading, so be warned. I’m in a very cautious mode and have my clients positioned to avoid large losses and perhaps make money as things go …

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