Whether basketball or life The Wizard of Westwood can always be counted on for sage advice. "Patience is the ability to wait and calmly persevere. We all grow impatient but some people have more trouble waiting than others do. We tend to forget that all good things take time." Sadly the investment world and its many attention [...]
Given last week's market volatility - all but forgotten in our 24/7 information age - many investors are questioning whether they have the "stomach" to be exposed to the financial markets. To understand if we should be invested is to understand why we are invested. This article seeks to create a link between financial and non-financial explanations. Is it legitimate? Nonsense? [...]
Meredith Whitney's claim to fame is her now famous October 2007 prediction that Citigroup would have to raise capital, sell assets or cut its dividend. Since that time she's proven a one-hit wonder. As 2010 came to an end she panicked many an investor during a 60 Minutes interview when she predicted "hundreds of billions" of dollars of [...]
We live in a society rife with racist and sexist undertones. In the movies "good guys" wear white while "bad guys" wear black. Black cats are bad luck. A male doctor is a doctor while a female doctor is a "lady doctor." The Declaration of Independence tells us "all men are created equal." We could [...]
History and pop culture have given us many famous phrases and quotable moments: Jedi Master Yoda tells us, "Do or do not. There is no try." Everyone's favorite grandmother, Clara Peller, wondered throughout the 1980s, "Where's the Beef?" And no one seems to know the full story behind those famous words uttered at The Battle of Bunker Hill: "Don't [...]
"Religion is the opium of the people." If there's one Karl Marx quote with which we're familiar this is it. Sadly his words are taken out of context and provide a distorted impression of what he had to say about religion. What did he really say? "Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real [...]
"Have you ever heard a joke so many times you've forgotten why it's funny? And then you hear it again and suddenly it's new. You remember why you loved it in the first place." These are the words of William Bloom - a character in the 2003 film Big Fish directed by Tim Burton and adapted from [...]
Recently SEI Investments surveyed 41 "wealthy individuals" to determine what shapes their investment philosophy. The results of this unscientific study are a bit troubling: 68% said they let emotions get in the way of making the best choices 17% said instinct guides them most 22% said education guided them 20% said they relied upon their [...]
We all take risks. This is no surprise. Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. We drive too fast. Sometimes we get where we're going in "less time." Sometimes we end up writing a check to the "police fund" via a speeding ticket. We drink too much. Sometimes that "I'll just have one more" glass of [...]
During the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2010 TD Ameritrade surveyed 1,088 individuals to find out what, if anything, they would have done differently in the time prior to the recession of 2008-2009. In retrospect 65% said they would have lived within their means. Implicitly 35% said, "What the heck? It's a terrible idea to [...]