Searching for something on my desk and actually finding it can be two very different exercises in my life. Last week, while seeking something I needed, I instead came across a small stack of paperwork that I had put off for a couple of years. It was forms a brokerage firm had sent me when …
I recently reconnected with Dave, a former colleague who lost his job as the economy was reopening from the pandemic. He’s actually a few years younger than I am, but doesn’t think he can get another job that he’d enjoy in his field, nor does he want a job that forces him to commute and …
Investors haven’t been losing money in this stock market, they’ve been losing their minds. They have disconnected with reality and checked into an alternative universe, a land of milk, honey and above-average stock returns. Way above average. According to the latest Global Survey of Individual Investors from Natixis Investment Managers, U.S. retail investors now expect …
Jack is a recent college grad who did some work for me around the yard when he was in high school. I bumped into him the other day and, after a brief talk about his collegiate sports career, the conversation quickly turned to money. He was particularly proud of having bought his first individual stock …
My sixth grade teacher, Mr. Lewis, always said “One reason might make you believe something, but I need three sound judgments to be convinced.” He was teaching us to make intellectual arguments, preparing us for debate – whether with classmates or within our own minds – and hoping the process would give us sound, sensible …
For the first time since I was a little kid, “the half’ is about to be important again. “The half” is something children care about that adults typically ignore. It’s the six months of age that kids include when telling you they are, say, “six and a half years old,” that grown-ups effectively discard the …
The stock market makes the headlines, but nuts-and-bolts spending and savings issues often draw the letters. Here are some recent questions from readers: From Carol in Bellevue, Wash.: Doing some house-cleaning recently, I found an old bank envelope containing some checks that were supposed to be deposited in our bank. They never made it. …
At a time when many Americans seem obsessed with shutting out messages and viewpoints they don’t support and believe in, I found it refreshing last week to chat with a guy who most optimists and long-term investors either disbelieve or hate. Harry S. Dent Jr. has been a soothsayer of sadness and gloom for ages …
I recently congratulated an old friend on the announcement of his impending retirement, and he dropped me a response asking for a chat. Joe had done all of the math on his retirement savings and spending plans – which include some nice travels in the next few years – and was trying to figure out …
The headlines are filled with stories on the potential for inflation, rising interest rates, new government economic and taxation policies, fluctuating currencies – including cryptocurrencies — high-priced stocks and more. Each of those stories, however, represents a different form of risk, and the varied news is the market’s way of suggesting that investors might want …
