How to Get Financial Advice That Is in Your Best Interest

My Comments: Remember the phrase ‘the birds do it, the bees do it…”? Well, attorneys do it, CPAs do it, architects do it, doctors do it, and so should financial advisors. BTW, politician's don't do it. I’m talking about acting in the best interest of the client and/or patient. The Obama administration worked several years …

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How can Britain exit the EU? As a nation state Britain doesn’t really exist

My Comments: the first six years of my life were spent in England. Until I was probably fifteen I had no notion there was anything other than England when it came to where my aunts and uncles and cousins lived. During those fifteen years, I lived also in France, in India and here in the …

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Turning 65 this year? Don’t overlook these 3 steps

My Comments: The transition from working FOR money to having money FOR YOU is full of tension and hard to answer questions. If you’re beyond this stage, then don’t bother with this. On the other hand, if it’s today or in your future, then this is good stuff. Gail MarksJarvis / The Chicago Tribune / …

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Republican Presidents and Recessions

My Comments: As an economist, I readily acknowledge that political parties and recessions have little to do with each other. There are too many other variables that result in economic downturns. But the records suggests they are somehow correlated. We are due for one, and if history is any indication, Trump will have the pleasure …

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What To Do If Social Security Is Your Primary Source of Retirement Income

My Comments: There is talk in Washington that future Social Security benefits will be cut. How real this is I have no idea. But the fact it’s even talked about suggests the threat today is higher than before. I’m not talking about what might happen in 2035, but in 2017. If you are not yet …

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The Basics of Investing

My Comments: This is brilliant. It comes from Rod Rehnborg who is based in Hong Kong. Too often, people in my profession start out in the weeds and drag the reader further into the weeds with every word they write. Before long you have no idea what is going on. For some of you this …

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The Risks That Threaten Global Growth

My Comments: Readers of this blog will recall my observations about risk in general and in particular, those that will influence our economic well being in years to come. With the new administration seemingly in favor of conflicts over trade between nations, and of retreating from the forces that have fostered global economic growth for …

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The Makings of a Caliphate

My Comments: As a lifelong Democrat, I’m very aware that if a million more people in this country had better jobs and were feeling good about their financial future, Hillary Clinton would probably be taking the oath of office later this month. But they didn't so a different force will be running the asylum for …

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Income Inequality Is Off The Charts

My Comments: The greatest economic threats to the health and welfare of the world I will leave to my grandchildren will arise from the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. One side of this argument arises from the contempt that was pervasive across the planet toward a political movement driven by what came to …

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Welcome to the Exponential Age

18 years ago, the Eastman Kodak company sold 85% of all photo paper on the planet and employed 86,200 people, 46,300 of them in the US. By 2015, they employed 6,500 people and surrendered what was left of the photo paper business so they could emerge from bankruptcy. You may recall digital cameras were invented …

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