Nearly, every parent or child has uttered or heard the words “Don’t make me say it again…” at some point in their life. That is exactly the thought that comes to mind when I think about the dominating headline of the day: Fiscal Cliff. There I said it, but don’t make me say it again. It is exhausting to discuss the legislative gridlock we’ve experienced going on 3 years now….
A client of mine introduced me to a company run by one of his colleagues. Love the concept. If you need quality, low-cost dental work done and like to travel, you can use this site to find a dental practice with good reviews, and locations for some of the most desirable tourist destinations worldwide. Think TripAdvisor for medical needs. When costs here in the US continue to increase, its a…
Did you know that most active equity mutual fund managers under perform their peer benchmarks over time? As the time period stretches past 10, 15 or 20 years, the amount of under performance can be staggering. Under-Performance in US Equities According to data compiled by The Vanguard Group (Phillips, Christopher. “The case for indexing.” Valley Forge, PA: The Vanguard Group, 2012.) the percentage of actively managed US equity funds that…
Facebook’s IPO reminds everyone of what is possible when it comes to having an idea, taking it to market and being rewarded for the risk of seeing it through. While the IPO hoopla that dominated today’s headlines was welcome relief from the news regarding Greece and Europe, it does little to help long-term investors during these volatile times. To be sure, since the end of the “credit crisis”, volatility in…
A very important topic that unfortunately is not getting enough attention by the public… below some insightful commentary from the CFA Institute into the Volcker Rule and its importance to the long-term health of our financial system: “It is not hard to see the delicate balance this rule-making situation requires. Too strict a rule and important players in the provision of market stability and liquidity are impaired, to the detriment…
Are we looking at a U.S. economic recovery? Quite possibly. How long could this recovery last? It depends. What does it depend on? It depends on the following: * Housing * Unemployment * Europe * China * Iran Lets start with Housing: its been a long-slog for the housing and residential construction market. However, it looks like we are turning a corner. In the first few months of this year…
This is an absolutely FANTASTIC op-ed penned by an executive who resigned from Goldman Sachs today. Hopefully this piece strikes a nerve with every client of Goldman’s. I do believe it may be too late to strike a nerve of the many Goldman board members and managing directors: (Click here to read NYTimes op-ed)
Gross on the net affect of the Greece debt restructuring. It is now more expensive for any government to borrow money, bond investors will demand higher yields for the increased probability governments will be forced into restructuring. (Click here to read Bloomberg.com article)
Why are we seeing this rally today? Well, aside from some of the positive economic news regarding higher then expected sales of US existing homes, as well as new job hires there was a significant policy move by five central banks, including the Fed, Europe Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and Swiss National Bank to help financial institutions obtain liquidity in times of crisis. Essentially, a country’s…
The primary drag on economic recovery is the sheer size of US household debt. It will take many years to bring the averages down. The following excerpt tells us a lot: “From 1952 to 1979, the average ratio of household debt to gross disposable income was 57%, but over the past three decades the averages steadily, and then dramatically, climbed higher. In the 1980s, it averaged 69%; in the 1990s…
