Market Declines Are More Common Than You Think

Market Declines Are More Common Than You Think

It may seem that the U.S. stock market has been the place to invest your savings over the last few years. The S&P 500 returned 32% in 2019, 18% in 2020, and is currently up almost 20% so far this year. That’s well above its 50-year average annual return of slightly over 10%. During periods…
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Dealing With Sudden Wealth

A young tech employee recently wrote an article in New York Magazine about her experience becoming a multi-millionaire after her company went public (see https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/confessions-overnight-tech-millionaire.html.) Not surprisingly it involved equal measures of anxiety and jubilation as she movingly described how both large and small aspects of her life have uncontrollably changed. Psychologist & author Stephen…
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Predicting Earnings Growth Isn’t Enough

If company earnings were the most important factor associated with company stock returns, shouldn’t the S&P 500 average annual index performance have reflected the average annual earnings growth of the companies that it comprises? According to Ben Carlson of Ritholtz Wealth Management, over the past 80 years corporate earnings have increased by about 6% annually…
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Who Really Benefits From A Direct Public Offering?

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase went public earlier this month. But rather than following the standard initial public offering (IPO) process, the company chose to do a direct public offering (DPO), also known as a direct listing. What’s the benefit to the company, and, more importantly, what’s the benefit (if any) to investors? In a standard…
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The Impact Of Higher Inflation

Inflation is in the news again after a long hiatus. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in May that the broad inflation rate rose 4.2% over the past 12 months, the largest increase since 2008. Exactly what is inflation, and how does it impact investments? Simply put, inflation (and its negative twin deflation) is…
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Are You A Thoughtless Investor?

A thoughtless investor is someone who invests in something without performing any kind of due diligence first. I prefer the adjective “thoughtless” rather than “dumb” because the latter implies a lack of intelligence. Thoughtless investors can be highly intelligent but simply may not have the time or skills to do the work necessary to determine…
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