15 Nov 2013

Posted at 11:30h in The Friday Brief by
With limited information we make the best decisions we can, and for most people, most of the time, these decisions are based primarily on emotions. We do it because life is busy and we often have little time to gather sufficient facts to make more logical, and most often better, decisions.

08 Nov 2013

Posted at 13:29h in The Friday Brief by
Reality is setting in once again for investors that the Federal Reserve can't keep funding the so-called recovery forever. Stocks sank yesterday due to stronger-than-expected domestic growth and the likelihood that European growth will soon improve spurred by a rate cut in that region yesterday.

01 Nov 2013

Posted at 13:57h in The Friday Brief by
Why is it so easy for us to put off doing the things we know would make life better only to continue doing the things that gratify us now? Even when we commit to long-term goals like diet, exercise, saving or planning, we marvel at how easily we are distracted by momentary temptations. The problem in a neurological nutshell is that we have a flaw built into our brains - we overvalue immediate gains at the expense of long-term opportunities or costs.

25 Oct 2013

Posted at 14:24h in The Friday Brief by
Despite the disruption of a two-week shutdown and media warnings of impending financial doom if the debt ceiling was not raised, the stock market and the Treasury market have done surprisingly well. Both, of course, have more to do with continued government influence than with economic drivers.