How I Invest My Money
December 11, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Post-Election Market Surprise
November 25, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

10 Year Forecast (October 2020)
October 13, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Cracked screens and the sunk cost fallacy
September 11, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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 the heck is a 529 plan? Here you go…
August 28, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Elections and the Stock Market
August 14, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Great companies at bad prices
July 22, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Tips for day traders
July 8, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

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

Three Mortgage Refinance Strategies
July 6, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

After a video interview with Nick Flanagan of Summit Funding, I asked if he could share some helpful examples of the different types of mortgage refinancing. Here is what he gave us. Special thanks to Nick for the education. Cost…Read More

How much MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, FB do I own?
May 21, 2020  | By Kevin Smith

When you own a diversified portfolio, it doesn’t feel like owning stocks. What you see on your statement is a list of ETFs or mutual funds with names that describe the type of stocks you own “US Large Cap”, “International…Read More