The Election and its Meaning for Investors
For investors, perhaps the tepid reaction of equity markets to the election of Donald Trump was of equal or greater surprise than the upset election itself. I had to talk just one client off an emotional ledge late election night, and as of today, his impulse to “Sell everything” (from which he backed away) proves the value of having a [...]
TFA – Third Quarter, 2016 Review
Third Quarter, 2016 Review “To me, the smart money is patient money.” The above quotation is from my quarter end report of a year ago, a year that was not particularly happy for our clients nor for stock investors in general. 2016 is a better year, proving the wisdom of investor patience. This year began with a mini bear market [...]
Rational approaches to hydraulic fracturing
I have been an ardent believer in the opportunity unleashed by American ingenuity and risk taking in the oil patch. Hydraulic fracturing has brought forth a wealth of clean burning natural gas, reducing the need for coal in electricity production. HOWEVER, this process has the potential to cause environmental damage. Those who reject the use of fossil fuels have falsely [...]
Wall Street’s new-fangled CDs
A Certified Financial Planner, pledged to act as a fiduciary would likely have protected the investors described in this article by never showing this product. We have never done so! Pass this on to a friend! From the Wall Street Journal, “Wall Street Re-Engineers the CD—and Returns Suffer” - ‘Structured’ certificates of deposit leave many investors with lower yields and [...]
Will we ever have to bail out the banks again?
The subject of this interview is the fellow who made a fortune shorting the big banks going into the financial meltdown of 2008. He is not a naive cheerleader for the banking industry, so his current opinion, which reflects my own carried weight. As many clients know, we have been investing in preferred stock issued by regulated banks for over [...]
What to know about Money-Market Funds
From the Wall Street Journal, "5 Things Investors Should Know About New Rules on Money-Market Funds - Brace for the possibility of fluctuating share prices and temporary blocks on redemptions" by Daisy Maxey, August 9, 2016 Investors in money-market funds should prepare now for extensive new rules in mid-October that promise to fundamentally change the $2.7 trillion industry, fund managers [...]