Back in the halcyon days of the housing market with a crumbling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to contend with a quiet threat to the U.S. financial system appeared in the form of a possible dumping of U.S. Treasury securities held by Russia and China. Both countries with their vast holdings saw the opportunity as [...]
For everyone who bashed us for this post we’ll now be “fair and balanced” (but not in the Fox News standard for those terms – ha!). Once again the following is factual and not intended as a swipe at any one person or political party. Once again we suspect it will be construed as such. [...]
On April 20, 2016, Representative Sander Levin – the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee – introduced legislation to restore the estate tax rate and exemption level to the same amounts as in 2009. The proposed legislation known as The Sensible Estate Tax Act of 2016 would be a trip back to [...]
The following info is factual. It isn’t intended to be a swipe at any one person or political party although we suspect it will be construed as such. That’s life in 2016. So be it. According to papers released by The White House President and Mrs. Barack Obama had $436,000 of income in 2015 on [...]
The recent release of the “fiduciary rule” from the Department of Labor is being hailed as a boon to consumers. Conflicts of interest in the retirement advice industry are supposed to be a thing of the best. But will they be? Many consumers seek guidance from a brokerage firm. You know them well – Morgan [...]
Earlier this week the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released new rules aimed at ensuring providers of retirement investment advice adhere to a fiduciary standard – that is, to put the best interests of clients first and above all. This may seem like an obvious point but as we wrote here many investors have no idea [...]
Years ago I was in the office of a friend and colleague who was purchasing tickets from Ticketmaster. He wished to take his young child to the circus. A fairly straightforward and common transaction. At the end of the call the Ticketmaster rep summarized the transaction. "The cost per ticket is $x including a convenience [...]
As Donald Trump's campaign gains steam Google searches for "move to Canada" are at their highest level since 2004 when "W" was seeking a second term. We could provide you with some financial things to consider but that's about as exciting as watching paint dry. So what do we have for you instead? How about [...]
We’ve all heard stories so bizarre they must be true. Planning to send your daughter to Penn State? Make sure she doesn’t rent an apartment with more than one friend because in State College, PA any residential housing unit occupied by three or more unrelated females is considered a brothel. Live in NJ and plan [...]
As one of America’s forefathers I thank you for celebrating me today – Presidents’ Day. I accomplished a great deal in my time. Some of my major contributions: I wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. Four others (John Adams, Ben Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston) joined me in reviewing and revising [...]