Two weeks ago the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, made news when it announced that they can see the day when they will likely begin tapering off their bond-buying program, and ultimately ending it. This strategy, known as Quantitative Easing, or QE3, is an economic stimulus program intended to keep interest […]
One of the consequences of the incredibly low interest rate environment we have today is that it’s harder and harder to make money on any type of savings and fixed-income investments. Historically, things like bank savings accounts and CDs have not earned returns as high as long-term investments like bonds and stocks. But even with […]
Investing can sometimes be a painful process. We see the positive long term numbers and wish that the trend line was a nice, steady, upward slope. But that’s not the way investing works — never has been. A 12% annual return rarely means a 1% rise every month for 12 months. It simply doesn’t work […]
In October of last year, I wrote an article on the municipal bond market. The gist of the article, which can be read in full here, was that a CBS 60 Minutes segment in December of 2010 had put fear into many muni investors. Stepping back and looking objectively at the market could well have […]
Does it seem to you that the stock market has been especially volatile of late? Well, it has been, and there are a number of reasons why. You can read about them in my new research report entitled, “Market Volatility—Why It’s Increasing. Steps to Take.” “Market Volatility” shares recent market statistics and pulls together a […]
Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time looking at investment data. Which allocation strategies work well, which investment managers do a good job, how does monetary and fiscal policy affect investment results, that sort of thing. I’ve always thought the more I know about those things the better I can develop overall investment […]
Since late last year, I’ve had several clients ask about the viability of municipal bonds. In December 2010, the CBS program, 60 Minutes, had a segment on munis, the gist of which was that many municipalities were in financial trouble. The story featured an analyst who predicted that hundreds of billions of dollars in muni […]
It’s amazing how fast a stock market crisis can arise. In mid-July 2011, everything seemed to be going along just fine. The economy was slowly expanding. The stock market was doing reasonably well. In general, there was a sense that things were on the mend after the terrible economic mess of 2008. But in three […]
When I was a boy we had a huge avocado tree in our backyard, and I liked climbing and swinging in its branches. A slip and a fall meant scrapes and bruises, but that was usually about all that happened. The climbs seemed thrilling. The risks seemed minimal. I’m alive today and in one piece. […]
Most investors get a little nervous when asset values for stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other investments yo-yo up and down. And if you own a business, having some of your business’ pension fund invested in what might appear to be volatile investments can be discouraging. The investment markets can swing up and down for […]