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Archives Commentary Your Money on My Mind
Week Ending 02.26.05
The inevitable increase in interest rates, a higher overall inflation rate, the stumbling and soon to be tumbling dollar, and the resultant lack of growth. These are the four horsemen of the economy.
Week Ending 02.19.05
The late Ernst Mayr once said: "Every politician, clergyman, educator, or physician, in short, anyone dealing with human individuals, is bound to make grave mistakes if he ignores these two great truths of population zoology: (1) no two individuals are alike, and (2) both environment and genetic endowment make a contribution to nearly every trait."
Week Ending 02.12.05
Throwing Momma from the train may be the best option for retirees who want to leave an inheritance, live in viable communities, be able to right a wrong caused by a corporation all while avoiding bankruptcy, a cut in benefits and further deterioration of their quality of life.
Week Ending 02.05.05
It is important to understand that the return offered in the stock market are based on three things. The assumed rate of return in the stock market is possible but dependent on continued growth of company's stock prices in all environments, the sustained ability of companies to have capital gains and pay dividends - these two as a stand alone figure account for half of the 6.5% figure - and the strength of those managing those accounts to beat not only inflation but to stay ahead of break even.
Week Ending 01.30.05
The economic stability in this part of the world would open American doors to another marketplace willing to supply us with cheaply made goods. But the economic equilibrium would be shifted in such a way as to make us an unwitting accomplice in our own demise. Americans have been doing their best to help the rest of the developing world, why should we ignore Africa?
Week Ending 01.22.05
You don't need me to tell you that tax reform is on its way. In fact, much of the change was begun in earnest during the first Bush term, the result of a two decade long strategy to make the Republicans the party of smaller government.
Week Ending 01.15.05
Nate Most, the inventor of the Exchange Traded Fund or ETF passed away at age 90 leaving a fundamental change in how investors use the American Stock Exchange, the red-headed step child of Wall Street.
And in this edition: The term Ownership Society has resurfaced with vigor with the President's talk of Social Security reform. This saw an increase in dissenting editorials as the financial implications of the re-election of Mr. Bush for four more years began to settle in among voters. This President was going to redefine lameduckiness by changing the future of millions of Americans, many of whom can little afford the shift in the status quo.
Our 2005 Outlook
As we see the new year break, we will also see compressed operating margins in far too many industries as a result of this inevitable shift in thinking. Let's face it, the fourth quarter enthusiasm which led the markets into the positive - barely - from what looked to be a dismal year will not be there beyond the
first quarter of the next year.
Week Ending 12.25.04
Wall Street needs and wants you to play the game of active investing. They know that your odds of success are so low that it is not in your interest to play. But they need you to play so that they (not you) make the most money. Guest columnist Larry Swedroe comments on Conventional Wisdom.
Week Ending 12.11.04
In a search for a safe haven during the bear market for stocks that
existed from 20002002, hedge funds attracted more than the usual
attention. And in the aftermath of that bear market, they continue to
attract much attention. Larry Swedroe offers his thoughts in today's commentary.
Week Ending 12.04.04
Allowing the pinstriped suits to walk through newly opened doors in labor rich countries and build factories free of regulatory restrictions designed to protect not only the workers but the country itself has begun in earnest.
Week Ending 11.27.04
Happy Thanksgiving!
Week Ending 11.20.04
A true alarmist is steeped in gold at the moment, skewing their investments toward the truest resort for the worried. The bond market has its concerned citizens aa well but unlike the precious metal that Vince is now 70% invested, this haven might be the next best move for savvy investors.
Week Ending 11.13.04
Now that you have been elected by 59 million plus voters for what appears to be your family values, it is a little surprising that the first thing you offer the country in the way of a second term mandate involves economic issues, many of which should have alienated voters instead of garnishing them with faith. But I still wonder how you plan on financing this plan for the next four years. Show me the money,. Mr. President
Week Ending 11.06.04
It seems that these are no longer the days of wine and roses. Resembling more the nightmare of whines and losses, the average employee is not as prepared for the future as one would imagine. Plans that have been made for retirement are being unwound in every sector as business after business uses a loop hole left in a 1984 Congressional amendment to the pension law. That gaping hole is changing the way Americans think about their golden years.
Week Ending 10.30.04
One thing is for sure. In a little over a week this nation will have cast their collective ballots for the presidency of this great land. Although I am confident that the outcome will not be decided for weeks after armies of lawyers take their litigious toll, once again, on the election process and the electoral college, an antiquated provision added by the founding fathers several centuries ago in a time when billions of campaign dollars, 527 groups and whoever had a bankroll large enough to enter the fray were nonexistent have their say. But whoever wins, the outcome will remain the same.
Week Ending 10.23.04
In another truly notable and cryptic appearance in front of the National Italian American Foundation last week, the ever blurry Alan Greenspan offered his take on oil prices as something of little concern, unless of course they go "materially higher". Thanks to the nation's top banker, an economist of great reputation, we have little to worry about as we head into winter with the odds stacked against us.
Week Ending 10.16.04
I listened, somewhat in awe, at a phone-in caller to a recent edition of NPR's Talk of the Nation. With a noticeably Southern drawl, the gentleman suggested that as single father he worried about whether the Democratic candidate John Kerry would raise his taxes. Describing himself as a single father, was his worry unfounded?
Week Ending 10.09.04
There is no real optimistic outlook for jobs on the horizon. This evidenced in the newest debate about employment: the quality of the work that many folks have been forced to take. We also take a look at the training of young investors - in high school!
Week Ending 10.02.04
Apparently, we are going to balance the budget on the shoulders of war. That's right , war. Now for most of you, the thought of war conjures either one or the other emotion and I have also promised at great length not use it to make my own small economic points. But Congress, as only Congress can, decided to pass an amendment making a balance budget a law except when we are at war. And we all know what that means. Right?
Archived articles and commentary reaching back to March 2002
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