Stocks have lost close to 2,000 points over the last two days. Futures are up a little this morning as I write to you but that doesn’t mean anything really. Which reminds me, the less you dwell on the future, the better off you tend to be as an investor. Remember, the pain you feel from losing money far outweighs the feeling of gains—mainly because (as) you get used to the gains, you become comfortable with your net worth. That’s a mistake. Much of my time working with successful Americans like you is spent talking about their lives, specifically, where they are in it. Yes, we’ve … [Read more...]
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part II
Yesterday you read that the coronavirus was causing panic in markets, sending stock prices plummeting. Below you can see that, while DJIA stock prices fell 3.54% in yesterday's turmoil, bond prices (as measured by the Ryan/NASDAQ Laddered Treasury Index) rose 1.05%, a difference of 4.59% over stocks. If you don't understand the value of bonds, this is it. Bonds are a counterbalancer in your portfolio against the volatility of stocks. Bonds will always matter to you, especially when the going gets tough. If you are just beginning to invest in bonds, consider a laddering strategy. And … [Read more...]
Right to Work Under Fire From Virginia Democrats
You have read my warnings of the impending push to eliminate the Right to Work in Virginia. First, you saw, Will Virginians Allow a Socialist to Take Away Their Right to Work? Then, you read that After VA Democrats Take Your Gun, They’ll Take Your Job. Now, Democrats are preparing to do just that. A bill has been passed in the House and is awaiting the Senate's approval that would adopt rules similar to New York's Taylor Law. Ken Girardin explains at The Wall Street Journal: Virginia Democrats are poised to legalize collective bargaining for government employees. In November Democrats … [Read more...]
Stock Market Rocked by Coronavirus
Over the past 52-weeks, you’ve received over five percent on any combination of short to mid-term agency, corporate, and/or treasury bonds, and that’s not counting today’s expected bond rally. Remember, bonds tend to go up when stocks go down. As the coronavirus creates panic for stock investors (futures are way down as I write to you), bonds along with safe-haven gold are rallying. What the coronavirus will mean for stock investors this year is unknown. But what’s clearly known is many stock investors head for the exits when panicked. Your key takeaway is to make sure you have your bond … [Read more...]
The Sophistication of Simplicity as it Relates to Your Money
You’ve read my series You Invest, They Win. In a wonderful op-ed in the Weekend WSJ was “The Joy and Wisdom of Simplicity,” by Fay Vincent: The other day I found someone citing Henry David Thoreau’s advice from “Walden”: “Simplify, simplify.” I began to think of some seemingly simple yet unusual statements I had encountered. I once asked the late Las Vegas tycoon Kirk Kerkorian if he was troubled by the enormous debt he ran up to finance his corporate takeovers. He was then trying to gain control of Columbia Pictures Industries, where I was CEO. His simple answer stunned me. “Look, that … [Read more...]
Breaking News: Why Fidelity is #1
You now have yet another reason to consolidate your assets with my favored Fidelity Investments: Fidelity takes protecting your most valuable financial information seriously. Yesterday, it was announced that Fidelity is spinning off software start-up Akoya, a platform that gives customers more control over how their bank-account information is shared. Without a service like Akoya, apps can scrape your account gaining access to information you may wish to keep private. “The platform,” explains Justin Baer in the WSJ, “aims to put an end to ‘screen scraping,’ the process where the app … [Read more...]
Americans Flee the Big City Blues
According to the scholar Richard Florida, "the great urban revival is 'over.'" Americans are leaving "luxury" cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Joel Kotkin writes at New Geography: Since 2010, urban inner rings, including central business districts, accounted for barely 10 percent of population growth in the nation’s 53 largest metropolitan areas. More revealing still, the country’s three largest metropolitan areas — New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—are now losing population. Since 2012, suburbs and exurbs, which have seven times as many people as the core, are again growing … [Read more...]
After Twenty Years Americans Are Forgetting the Tech Bubble’s Lessons
Twenty years after the Tech Bubble decimated investors' savings, there are echos of it in the S&P 500. Reuters' Noel Randewich and lewis Krauskopf report: At the height of the dot-com era, technology stocks accounted for over 35% of the S&P 500’s value. Today, the tech sector accounts for about 25% of S&P 500 market capitalization, according to Refinitiv Datastream. But combining the tech sector with the communications sector, which includes Internet-related companies like Alphabet, Facebook and Netflix (NFLX.O), the group accounts for 35% of the S&P 500. There is growing … [Read more...]
The Long Reign of Growth Stocks May Be Coming to an End
Some investors "could take Apple’s warning on Monday that it won’t meet revenue expectations for the current quarter as a sign that the growth stock run is over," notes Gunjan Banerji in The Wall Street Journal. Over the long-term, he continues, value stocks have outperformed growth stocks. He writes: As they grapple with a murky outlook, investors will turn their attention this week to the Fed’s latest meeting minutes and fresh reads on manufacturing. Meanwhile, results from Walmart Inc. on Tuesday will offer new insight into the health of the consumer. The run in value stocks “was short … [Read more...]
Happy Presidents’ Day!
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