In the last several weeks, I’ve received more than a half dozen press requests asking: “How will the coronavirus affect investment portfolios?” Although very few clients have asked me this question directly, I thought I’d share my thoughts on this topic.
Many investors’ image of the stock market resembles an EKG where they believe the market is up, then down, then up, then down, etc. The reality is quite different.
Nobody likes it when the stock markets decline. This week we see two economic superpowers “saber-rattling” about who will impose the largest tariff. Because threatened or imposed tariffs have real long-term consequences, the global stock markets have declined relatively sharply. I take advantage of these rough times to run “lifeboat drills.”
Over the last six months, several high-profile companies have decided to sell shares in the public stock markets. Companies like Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Zoom Video and Levi Strauss all made the news when they “IPOed.” Let’s talk about the questions you might have about IPOs.
I was planning to write an April's Fool article about “The World’s Best Investment Strategy.” However, I changed my mind after my wife's prank went wrong.
It’s hard to miss the financial press’ recent headlines about the inverted yield curve, which (we are told) inevitably signals our next recession. Given the financial media’s history of blowing things out of proportion, I went to the original source of this indicator to discover what his research is really telling us.
Delta Dental, for the last two decades, has gathered information about the generosity of the Tooth Fairy. The most recent figures show that she’s been stingier over the last two years. In fact, the price for teeth has dropped 18% over the last two years!
As I watched my daughter and her friends baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies, I realized there are several parallels between baking a good cookie and putting together a solid investment portfolio.
This month, one of my heroes passed away at the age of 89. John Bogle was much more than the founder of Vanguard and the pioneer of index funds; he was one of the hardest working and most effective crusaders for investors.
Investment diversification works, but not in all short-term periods. In 2018, very few asset classes had a positive performance for the year. While not pretty, there is some good news to report.
Whenever the markets show weakness, “tactical traders” are featured on various financial programs often telling stories about the importance of avoiding big losses. The buy and hold investor tells the opposite story about the pain of missing out on gains. Neither story is fair.
I have been invited to speak at the “It’s Your Money!” seminar series several times over the last 10 years. This month I was asked to teach their Fixed Income Investing course. Fixed income investing is admittedly not the most exciting topic, but it's one of the more important ones in the series.