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 …

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Current Oil Price Decline May Set Stage For Price Spike And Global Recession

My Comments: There are relatively high taxes on the sale of gasoline at the pump where I live. In spite of this, we are almost at the $2.00 per gallon level. As I’ve mentioned before, this is both a good thing and a potentially bad thing. The bad is that money invested to bring us …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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A Terrific Message…

Those of you who know me well know I am not very spiritually inclined. However, I am inclinded toward elegant ideas, artfully expressed. This message comes from a speaker at Abiline Christian University. I enjoyed it. You might also.

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 …

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There’s an App for That!

Several days ago I was trying to figure out the length of my step when I walk so I could determine how far I went on my morning walk. I figured if I counted my steps and multiplied by the number of inches, I could come up with a pretty good approximation. The simplest way …

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4 Ways Social Security Could Be Healthy Again

My Comments: As someone who paid into the SSA system for over 50 years, it’s hard to describe the satisfaction my wife and I experience from the deposits made to our checking account every month. As an economist, I’ve watched how the system has been modified over the years to remain the safety net it …

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