Earlier this week, I wrote to you about the pitfall of environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG. Thousands of investment firms have signed a pledge to follow ESG and abide by a United Nations sponsored statement of principles. The problem here is multifold. First, your investment advisor should act as your fiduciary not an environmental activist with your money. Second, the number of state pensions that have signed this pledge is appalling. Not only are these pensions underfunded, but the administrators are using other people’s money (retired teachers, police, and firemen … [Read more...]
Top 10 Reasons to Own an AR-15
You’ll benefit from spending some time reading “Top 10 Reasons You Should Own an AR-15,” by Mark Overstreet writing for the Federalist. One of the major misconceptions with the AR-15 is that it’s “automatic.” This is false. If you pull the trigger of an AR-15 and hold it in for five or ten seconds—one round will be fired. That’s it. No more. You control the pace of the next round fired—not the rifle. One more point, I own a Colt AR-15 and can tell you it shoots as smoothly as a hot knife through a stick of butter. You don’t have to reload it, taking your eye off the target after firing … [Read more...]
Wealth Management: Year-End Planning
One of the “must dos” for any serious investor is to make sure your investment house is in order as year-end quickly approaches. Ensuring that you have the best technology is an important way to do that, and I have found through years of experience with different custodians that Fidelity has always been the industry's technology leader (this is not a paid endorsement, just the truth learned from my experience). Fidelity's technology leadership began in its earliest days, pushed on by former Chairman Ned Johnson's passion. I recently wrote about Johnson's focus on technology that "He … [Read more...]
Red Flag: SWAT Team Confiscates Your Guns
You have a natural born right to self-defense. The Second Amendment guarantees it. But as we move into 2019, gun control advocates at both the state and federal level are coming for your guns. Are you familiar with a “red flag” order? “Every state has a slight variation in standards, but in general these confiscation laws allow courts to issue emergency ex-parte orders based on the lowest ‘reasonable cause’ evidence that the subject is an immediate danger to himself or others,” writes Kelley Vlahos at The American Conservative. Fourteen states, including D.C., have some version of a red … [Read more...]
RAGE Gauge December: Big Monthly Uptick in Risk
Don’t look now but Vanguard GNMA is up close to 2% over the last four weeks and is even on the year. Remember, half the time you’re going to hate GNMA and half the time you’re going to love it. As the market has struggled, GNMA has performed well. The stock market has been volatile, and my RAGE Gauge is signalling increased risk in America. With an investment like GNMA, which has had no big down years in the last 15, you may be able to create some counterbalancing in your portfolio. This month I am increasing the RAGE Gauge from 80 to 100 to reflect the increased risk in the economy. Now … [Read more...]
Wealth Management Pitfall: ESG, Part I
Your wealth manager should act as your fiduciary, plain and simple. Sounds easy. But in reality it’s not. Today, I want to help you overcome one of the more absurd obstacles you may face. It’s called environmental, social and governance investing, or ESG. Thousands of investment managers have pledged to follow ESG—a pledge to abide by a U.N.-sponsored statement of ESG principles. Investing in fossil fuel stocks, for example, would likely be on the “no go” list of companies available for investment. You can forget those juicy pipeline yields. “It isn’t only student activists but the … [Read more...]
Brazil’s Mob Lynchings and Murders
If you have teenage children or grandchildren, then you know about social media and how it can become an online version of Lord of the Flies. What’s terrifying is that, in a lawless society like many in South America we’re seeing how messaging services like WhatsApp facilitate a rule by mob hysteria. Now is the time to get your guns and your training. Thankfully in Brazil, for example, President Jair Bolsonaro has recognized innocent people deserve to be able to defend themselves from violent gangs. It’s a lesson for you and me on how a polarized society can break apart at the seams. … [Read more...]
Cryptocosm and Life After Google Part V
Operations Management? When I was at Babson College one of our core curriculum courses was Operations Management. And, at the time, I didn’t see the vast opportunities that would unfold from this course. Who wants to spend a career figuring out how to piece together a supply chain or re-tool a factory? Then, when I had an internship at an online grocery delivery start-up, I recognized how fruitful a career in Ops could actually be. Fast forward to today and if you’re an Ops wizard, companies like Walmart or Amazon want to talk with you. Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through … [Read more...]
Inflated Assets for All and to All a Good Night
Looks like the Fed is keeping the punch bowl full for the holidays with a cheery: “Inflated assets for all and to all a good night.” We’ll see how this plays out when the going gets tough next year. The Fed is already in the danger zone. … [Read more...]
Tucker Carlson Says What You’ve been Thinking about Trump
This Christmas when your family is gathered together in conversation, will you stick your neck out yet again in defense of President Trump? The answer might be worth pondering for a moment. Because with Trump, there are only two camps: love him/hate him. The love him camp may not like what he tweets, but they like his pro-business policies. The hate him camp barely acknowledges him as worthy of discussion. Pass the peas please. What has worked for Trump is his laser-like focus on Main Street and the Forgotten Man. His tax cuts delivered big time to his base, especially small business … [Read more...]