New Study: Picking Stocks Is a Losing Bet

New Study: Picking Stocks Is a Losing Bet

Here’s a simple question: which asset class has better historical returns, stocks or one-month U.S. treasury bills?  That’s pretty much a no-brainer.  Most anyone would tell you the answer is stocks.  And they’d be right.  Since 1926 treasury bills have returned a paltry 3.5% annually on average, vs. over 10% for the S&P 500. That’s…
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Beware of Fake News When Investing

The concept of knowledge has recently undergone a radical change, with no less a personage than our new president and his cohorts attempting to legitimize what one of them has referred to as “alternative facts.”  Notwithstanding the societal consequences of government leaders making decisions based on false information, fake news can be especially problematic when making…
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The Impact Of Fed Rate Hikes (Part 2)

In Part 1 of this posting, I talked about how the government’s monetary policy is executed through the Fed to modify interest rates.  To recap: the Fed cannot control interest rates; it can only influence them, and realistically speaking only short-term rates at that.  In order to keep long-term rates low to stimulate the economy…
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The Impact Of Fed Rate Hikes (Part 1)

As you may have read in the media, the Federal Reserve (Fed) raised its benchmark interest rate to 1.00% in March.  This was the second increase in just three months and the most the Fed has raised the rate in over eight years.  What’s the significance of such rate hikes, particularly to investors? Let’s start…
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Why Does The Media Prefer The Dow?

Chances are when you visit the doctor for a physical checkup, you go to a general practitioner.  You probably wouldn’t go to an ear, nose, and throat specialist.  Although the latter would have more expertise in those particular organs, it’s the broad view of your body that you’re looking to understand. Why isn’t it the…
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Politicians: Improve It, Don’t Eliminate It!

Suppose you have a hot water heater in your home that works only intermittently.  You go to your local Home Depot only to find that they won’t have a replacement model available for six months.  Would you wait until the replacement is available before removing the old unit, or would you immediately yank the defective…
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