At some point in the not-too-distant future, the last year of stock market gains will be a footnote to history. Rebounding from a precipitous drop as the world lurched into the pandemic in March of 2020, the stock market reversed course and gained more than 50 percent, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500, …
One positive side effect of the pandemic is that people stuck at home started investing. According to a recent new survey from Charles Schwab & Co., 15 percent of all current U.S. stock market investors say they first began investing in 2020. Schwab tabbed that group of investors as Generation Investor or Generation I, but …
One year ago this week, the shortest bear market on record bottomed out. Stocks lost 34 percent from the penthouse on February 20 to the outhouse on March 23, a span of just 33 days. The coronavirus in that time was going from a worry to a pandemic and, as a result, the economy was …
You don’t have to be a trader to be affected by them, and these days the chances that you will be are growing. A combination of factors are driving that: heightened interest in and trading action around “story stocks,” fewer stocks to trade, easy access to trading tools creating more active investors and more. Throughout …
Steve in Daytona Beach Shores, Fla., a self-described patriot, says that after watching the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, he wondered for the first time in his adult life if he should “Invest American.” Throughout his decades as an investor, Steve has tried to buy American and invest in domestic companies. His …
(This column was released for publication on Dec. 30, 2020.) In a year filled with entirely too much death, no one should mourn the passing of a mutual fund. Funds and ETFs don’t deserve your grief. They’re useful tools, not friends or loved ones, even when they help you succeed. Hundreds of them die every …
Just like seemingly everything else in 2020, the market has been a place for extremes. From February 20 through March 23 this year, the stock market – as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 – lost 33 percent of its value. It then gained over 60 percent from that March low to the start …
The stock market has returned to record levels, powered by a few of the world’s biggest and best-known companies. That has spawned talk of how it’s a “stock-picker’s market.” Poppycock. The market observers who say this drivel aren’t particularly observant, or they would have long ago noticed that good stock-picking never goes out of style. …
(This column was released to newspapers on July 14, 2020.) Buyers act differently than owners. That applies to homes, cars, investments and much more. To convince you to buy, something has to meet the right conditions. It must be pristine, perfect, just the right thing, exactly what you are looking for, or some combination …
(This column was released to newspapers on July 7, 2020.) Rick in Maumee, Ohio, has used stay-at-home time during the coronavirus pandemic to “clean up my life.” There was a de-cluttering of the house, followed by a purging of his financial files (in accordance with guidelines I laid out in a recent column). He …
