Two Ways To Avoid Crooked Financial Advisors

Two Ways To Avoid Crooked Financial Advisors

Probably everyone these days knows who Bernie Madoff is. He “made off” (pun intended) with about $50 billion by scamming at least 5,000 people. Unfortunately there are many other unscrupulous financial professionals who, because their chicanery is on a much smaller scale, tend to fly under the regulatory scrutiny radar. And when their fraudulent activity…
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Slogans Should Say What They Mean

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has adopted a slogan that I believe will not serve them well. I’m referring to the “Defund the Police” catchphrase. Whenever it is brought up in some social media forum, it’s not uncommon for a proponent to feel obligated to explain to the group that it doesn’t really mean…
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Are You Feeling More Wealthy In The Time Of COVID?

COVID-19 has been devastating to Americans’ health. But it also appears to have improved their views on wealth. The Charles Schwab Corporation surveyed 1,000 Americans aged 21 to 75 to discover their perspectives on saving, spending, investing, and wealth. The survey was conducted in January (before the outbreak) and again in June. One of the…
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One COVID Risk You May Not Have Thought About

What we have learned about this virus so far is that it is highly transmissible and that there is an extremely wide range of symptoms. Some who contract it experience no symptoms at all, while others die from it. Hospitalizations can last for weeks or even months. Although the media focus has been on deaths,…
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Is The Stock Market Overly Concentrated Today?

If you owned Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google at the beginning of this year you would be holding the four most valuable stocks in the entire U.S. stock market based on market capitalization (the stock’s price times the number of shares outstanding). Facebook clocked in at number six. Out of some 3,500 companies comprising the…
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Can Investment Performance Data Lie?

Mark Twain popularized the phrase “there are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” There is some validity to that statement when it comes to investing. All data reported in the financial media and promoted by investment salespeople is of necessity historical in nature. After all, if you’re trying to recommend an investment, the only data that…
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