Is Your Investment Portfolio Tax-Diversified?

Is Your Investment Portfolio Tax-Diversified?

I have written many times about the value of keeping one’s investment portfolio well-diversified across numerous investment asset classes. But diversifying your portfolio with respect to income taxes can also be a valuable way of maximizing the wealth you get to keep and pass on to your heirs. Here’s a high-level explanation of how it…
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Which Political Party Is Better For The Economy?

David Leonhardt, a reporter at the New York Times, recently reported on research from two economists at Princeton University, Alan Blinder and Mark Watson. The two researchers statistically compared economic performance under all American presidents since Harry Truman and found that growth was better under Democrats than under Republicans, regardless of whatever measure was used.…
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Is The U.S. Media Overly Negative?

Researchers at Dartmouth College and Brown University recently discovered two interesting things about media coverage of events surrounding COVID-19 after reviewing all related news articles from major media sources worldwide since the beginning of 2020. The first is that their audience (us) – regardless of country – strongly prefers negative stories over positive ones. The…
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Extremely Alternative Investments

Stock prices continue to set records. Bond returns are the lowest they’ve been in decades. Real estate has been upended by the pandemic. Where can an investor find decent returns anymore?  You could branch out into established alternatives such as commodities, gold, or collectibles if you believe they’ll provide better returns than stocks & bonds.…
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How Not To Leave A Legacy

Deceased talk-show host Larry King’s family is currently embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit over his estate. Not only is the litigation likely to be divisive and expensive, it is being aired publicly. How did this all come about, and could it have been managed in a better way? Here are the facts as reported…
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More of “Don’t Believe Everything You Believe”

Five years ago I wrote about Confirmation Bias (Don’t Believe Everything You Believe). This refers to our tendency as humans to seek only information that reinforces our previously-held beliefs, and the negative impact of applying that bias to our decision-making. It’s now 2021 and we are in the midst of some of the biggest examples…
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