Is Your Investment Goal To Beat The Market?

Is Your Investment Goal To Beat The Market?

When someone contacts me about getting help with his or her investments, more often than not during the discussion a question comes up about the level of returns I‘ve gotten for my clients. I would like to address the various implications of such a question in the hope that it may help some readers better…
Read more

Five Financial Crashes; Is A Sixth Coming?

Scott Nations, founder of an investment company that creates option-based funds, explores the sources of the five largest stock market collapses in American history in his recently published book A History Of The United States In Five Crashes.  To be clear, Nations is not talking about ordinary market corrections driven by business cycles.  He’s addressing…
Read more

Securities Trading Is Becoming More Efficient

You may have observed that when you sell most mutual funds before the end of trading on any given day (1 PM Pacific Time), the cash typically shows up in your account the next trading day.  This is known as a one-day trade settlement cycle. When you buy funds, the shares appear in your account…
Read more

Subprime Auto Loans Reach New Highs

Remember the billions of dollars of poorly-vetted mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that helped destroy Lehman Brothers and numerous banks (not to mention the world economy) in 2008? This time it’s auto loan-backed securities (ABS) that are setting records.  According to Bloomberg Businessweek, $26 billion in subprime ABS bonds were sold in 2016, surpassing the peak reached…
Read more

How To Worry Less About Your Investments

I don’t suppose worrying is ever a good idea.  If there’s something in your life that you are concerned about, and you have the ability to change it, then you can (and should) do so.  If you have no control over it, worrying about it won’t improve anything and might even negatively impact your health. …
Read more

Which Is Better: Bad Advice or No Advice?

Did you know that there are two different standards for investment advice depending on who provides it?  Advisors (or salespeople) at  brokerage or insurance companies are legally allowed to recommend an investment that may cost you more than alternative investments (thus providing them with more income) and that may not meet your risk or return…
Read more