Why Stocks Dropped So Much In October

Why Stocks Dropped So Much In October

From October 1 through October 31 the S&P 500 dropped over 7%. And this came on the heels of a gain of over 9% between the beginning of 2018 and the end of September. Why did this happen? The explanation is quite simple although likely far from satisfactory. As I have written previously, there are…
Read more

Will Trump’s Trade War Benefit The U.S.? (Part 2)

Part 1 addressed tariffs in general and why they are for the most part shortsighted. In this post I’ll briefly address Trump’s misconceptions about trade. The first fallacy is his apparent belief that bilateral trade with every country must be even. That is, if we run a trade deficit with a country like China, then…
Read more

Will Trump’s Trade War Benefit The U.S.? (Part 1)

It’s difficult to explain a complex topic in a single post so I will attempt this in two parts. First, I’ll address tariffs in general and why they are for the most part shortsighted. In a following post I’ll address Trump’s misconceptions about trade. Let’s first try to understand why a country would impose restrictions…
Read more

Will USMCA Make America Great Again?

President Trump recently announced “the greatest deal in the history of the U.S.,” the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). He is promoting it as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that had been in place since 1994 and that Trump had called “a really bad deal.” Putting aside Trump’s recurring penchant for extreme…
Read more

Credit Freezes Are Now Free

Under a new federal law passed on September 21, 2018, you can now freeze and unfreeze your credit files at no cost at each of the nationwide credit reporting agencies – Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. This new law additionally requires the credit agencies to allow extended fraud alerts up to one year (vs. the current…
Read more

Maximize Social Security Survivor Benefits

Prior to the passage of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, Social Security (SS) benefits were quite generous for married (and even for divorced) couples, particularly for those with dual incomes. Spouses were not only entitled to benefits based on their own earnings, but also based on their spouse’s earnings. And the rules allowed them…
Read more