Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LV You’ve seen how quickly blue state governors go wild. Now you’re seeing the looting and burning by cowards the blue-state governors aim to protect. Is this a dress rehearsal? Consider the recklessness from blue state governors and their self-crowning press conferences, stirring up resentment from the producers of the world. The allies of blue-state politicians in the media and technology industries have no problem setting one set of rules for America’s producers, and another for their favored groups. Tucker Carlson explains: Watch the … [Read more...]
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
Get Ready: Your Survival Guy’s Guide to the Second Wave
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LIV You read the news: “Coronavirus reaches 100,000 deaths,” streaming across all forms of media yesterday and yet, not a peep just a couple of years ago when the flu killed 80,000. It’s like the media is taking a victory lap, cheering the virus numbers higher. A group of restaurants and bars in Rhode Island want government money to stay closed, claiming it’s stressful being open. Imagine all the pushy parents wringing their hands because little Jonny can’t play travel sports this summer. Talk about an aggressive group. They along with the … [Read more...]
Big Government Politics on the Shores of Newport and Beyond
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LIII Blue state governors have completely dropped the ball in the name of science, killing businesses and creating new health problems like anxiety and depression. In blue Rhode Island, we have our governor patting us on the head after a “successful” Memorial Day weekend. “The good news is, overwhelmingly, people were out and about doing the right thing,” she said during her daily news briefing. Tonight’s Newport City Council meeting will hear a resolution to require all pedestrians to wear masks on certain streets at all hours of the day. Councilwoman … [Read more...]
American Businesses Show the Way Forward Where Blue-State Politicians Fail
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LII During the coronavirus outbreak, the difference between heavy-handed local government, and private enterprises has been plain. Businesses are incentivized to protect their most important assets, their employees. Government officials are protecting their own reputations. In the early days of the virus, Leupold, an American business serving police departments and America's military elite took smart steps to protect employees. At The Federalist, Madeline Osburn reports on Leupold's response in an interview with company CEO Bruce Pettet. … [Read more...]
“The Losses are Taking a Toll on Their Health”
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part LI “You know what’s crazy,” a client told me yesterday, “is that investors spend more time buying a grill than picking a financial planner.” Friends of his are in deep financial trouble. The virus has made it even worse, and the losses are taking a toll on their health. Another client, who’s in my business, brings bond deals to market. He said every deal is oversubscribed with demand through the roof. We talked about how the retail investor has no chance to get in on these deals. When it comes to your bonds, you don’t want to be a retail buyer like … [Read more...]
Robo-Advisors: When You Have a Lot More to Lose than Money
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part L With casinos slowly reopening (sorry, most buffets are still closed), it looks like gamblers found a home with Nasdaq. While the world, as we know, has basically come to an end, the tech-laden Nasdaq is up a couple percent year-to-date. Welcome to Planet Hollywood. One is reminded of the dot.com bust especially when Shopify), a Canadian tech company, trades at a larger market cap than Royal Bank of Canada. Pop quiz: One was founded in 2004, the other in the 1800s. Recently, I was asked about robo-advisors: You set-up an account with a low … [Read more...]
Update! May 2020: Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part XLIX A new client of mine is consolidating his eight-figure fortune with Fidelity. What’s shocking is how easily he decided to leave Vanguard. “Why?” I asked him. “E.J., I haven’t heard from anyone at Vanguard in over a year,” he said. “They’re letting a quarter of a hundred million dollars walk out the door,” I thought to myself. “The front door.” That is shocking. “I’ve read your father-in-law Dick Young for over 30-years,” he said. “I miss him.” “Welcome home,” I said. When the late Vanguard founder Jack Bogle released Bogle on … [Read more...]
You Can’t Time the Market: When Hubris Fails
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part XLVIII You can’t time the market. Don’t even try, because you just might end up being wrong. Consider commercial real estate, for example. Anyone want to buy a high rise in Manhattan? Let’s hop in our time machine and look back to 2018 when the stock market was having a rough year. The DJIA ended the year down close to six percent. Big bad pensions wanted nothing to do with stocks. They wanted the “safety,” the “reliability of,” wait for it—commercial real estate. Let’s roll the footage (WSJ article Nov. 2018): U.S. public pension funds are … [Read more...]
Where to Live in Retirement? I Got You Covered Baby!
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part XLVII You worry about where you live in retirement. I get it. You hate the idea of leaving your kids behind. I’m here to tell you: Don’t despair, they’ll visit! But if social distancing is your concern, consider snowy Maine or New Hampshire in January. You might see a bear or two, but they’ll be back asleep before you know it. You’re going to love your new-found freedom. Thumbing through my 2020 copy of the Traveler’s Guide to the Firearm Laws of the Fifty States, Maine stands up strong. Want to drive a gun to your home? Fine. Just be sure to leave … [Read more...]
You Owe it to Yourself to Continue Doing What You’re Good At
Coronavirus Infects Stock Market: Part XLVI Clients of mine on the West Coast, we’ll call them Rock and Tess, sold their business a number of years ago. They were in their early 50s. Rock could care less about money. Tess handles that. Rock fixes things. Rock can fix just about anything mechanical. Rock is still working. He doesn’t need to. But Rock loves his work. He continues to do what he loves to do. In speaking with Tess this week, I remind her that a j-o-b is one of the most valuable assets in the world today. If “retirement” can wait, why not let it? I tell her … [Read more...]