When you hear someone reference “the market”, they probably mean the S&P 500 index, at least here in the United States. It is a list of 500 companies (actually 505) selected by the US Index Committee that are meant to…Read More
My kids are 3, 7, and 9. The first money concept I tried to teach them is that money does not fall from the sky, but Congress and the Federal Reserve keep proving me wrong. The older kids seem to…Read More
I spend most of my time helping people think about their investing decisions and not much time on my own. An old saying goes “the cobbler’s son has the worst shoes in town”, or something like that. Rather than my…Read More
How did the stock market do after election day? Remarkably similar to four years ago. 2020 Post-Election Global Stock Index 2016 Post-Election Global Stock Index If you predicted Joe Biden would win a contested election with a (possibly) split Congress…Read More
Predicting the future is out of the question, but developing reasonable expectations for planning purposes is necessary. Calculating expected returns on investments is a difficult task, but fairly simple models have been accurate enough to help with long term planning….Read More
I almost got tripped up by the sunk cost fallacy. Almost! This is a public service announcement to help others avoid a costly mistake. A sunk cost is the time and/or money already spent. It’s done. For example, you spent…Read More
What is a 529 plan? A 529 is a tax-advantaged education savings account that allows money to be saved and invested for a beneficiary, typically your child or grandchild. The earnings grow on a tax-deferred basis, and funds can be…Read More
I did not predict anything about 2020, including that the Presidential campaign three months from election day would be so quiet. You can’t escape it if you are glued to cable news or Twitter, but by comparison to past elections,…Read More
Prices matter. In fact, we think prices matter a lot. There is a price low enough to make an unimpressive investment attractive. There is a price high enough to make an amazing investment unattractive. Today, investors in the US stock…Read More
There is more energy around day trading than I have seen in years. Maybe it’s because of quarantine boredom. Maybe it’s because tech stocks have been soaring and FOMO (fear of missing out). Maybe marketing genius Dave Portnoy is responsible…Read More
