Why Financial Literacy Is So Elusive
Nice article from Barry Ritholtz about the importance of a basic financial education, why we're so bad at providing it and what can be done to improve the situation.
The ‘Wisdom’ of Crowds
Fantastic Josh Brown blog post. Read. Enjoy. Learn.
Financial Planning as Pleasant as A Medical Exam
Who likes a visit to the doctor’s office? Exactly. In a recent survey conducted by The Harris Poll Americans likened financial planning to a medical exam. Adults aged 18+ were asked how they feel about financial planning. The #1 answer was “not my favorite thing in the world but know it needs to get done [...]
About That Monday Selloff
Monday marked the 24th time since the March 2009 low that the S&P 500 corrected by 5% or more. Each time many people proverbially lost their collective minds. The lack of perspective is amazing. Since the 2009 low of 666 on the S&P we’ve experienced a 400%+ recovery. A 5% pullback is enough to [...]
Recession, Jobs and Investment Diversification
Recession. Few of us can define/explain it yet so many of us fear it like the mythical bogeyman. (Note: A recession is not an evil hobgoblin with special powers who will carry off our children.) Just what is a recession? Economists define it as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. In plain language it’s [...]
Who Funds Budget Deficits?
When Uncle Sam’s income (i.e. tax revenue) is less than his spending he runs a budget deficit. The Treasury Department sells Bills, Notes and Bonds (i.e. “Treasuries”) to cover the shortfall. Who are the buyers? Who enables the federal credit card? Historically the gap was filled from overseas. Individuals would buy Treasuries due to [...]
The Year In Charts
Excellent work by the folks at Pension Partners. Everything you wanted to know – and then some! Spend some time with the data. Quite eye opening.
Oh Those Pesky Expectations
The optimist expects good outcomes. He’s often disappointed. The pessimist expects the worst. He’s pegged as a doom and gloomer. The realist doesn’t have expectations. He keeps on open mind. Who’s right? No one. But who’s happiest? The realist. Why? Let’s have a look. We like to plan for the future. We like order – [...]
Buying When Stocks Are Down
Couple of problems with being human. Well, OK, more than a couple but we'll limit to two for the sake of discussion. Anyway... We assign way way way too much value to the most immediate events. It's called recency bias. The S&P 500 went from a low of 666 in March 2009 to over 2,900 [...]
Everything Stopped and Then It Didn’t
A bit more than ten years ago Lehman Brothers which at the time was the 4th largest investment bank in the U.S. filed for bankruptcy protection. The event has become the symbolic start of what’s been called the Global Financial Crisis (“GFC”). Today we continue to see its effects on both the global economy and [...]