Two big themes were on my mind last weekend: inflation and values. Why the former might occupy space in my mind is pretty self-explanatory--it's hard to take a breath without hearing/noticing how fast prices are rising. Ballooning costs have a macro-impact as well as a...
In Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, there is a phrase—really a mantra or incantation—used by the main character and his mother at various times when they are facing particularly challenging circumstances: "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will...
If you’re on any form of social media, you most likely saw pictures and videos circulating from last weekend's Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth. My favorite image of the bunch is of 4-year old Prince Louis making faces at his mom, the beautiful Kate...
I graduated from college in 1995 with a degree in economics and finance. At that time, only about 14% of Americans used the web (and only 20% of them went online every day), Amazon had just opened for business and the most popular web destinations...
We all want the investment that does this: A smooth and steady march up-and-to-the-right. The challenge is the stock market actually does this: Where things get interesting is when you take the blue line from my hypothetical investment and overlay it onto the second chart showing the actual...
Several years ago, a friend called me “book-ish” – which felt like an insult at the time. It may have been said both in trust and in jest, and I may have also given the strong reaction that they were hoping to get – but...
I want to state, here at the outset and for the record, that the TV show Friends is the most overrated show of all time. But I am borrowing from that sorry show to craft the title of this blog, as each episode is titled with the...
I can’t think of many good things to say about the high rate of inflation we’re currently experiencing in our economy. That’s why on Monday, when the Department of the Treasury announced that Series I savings bonds are now paying an annual rate of 9.62%...
Four weeks ago, I argued that the correction the stock market experienced earlier this year was entirely normal. What that brief omitted was any real discussion of the bond market which, as you may have heard, is having its own problems. The instigator of most...
"People Who Hate Retirement—and What the Rest of Us Can Learn From Them." That was the title of an article from Monday's print edition of the Wall Street Journal—a title so click-baity that I actually tried to click the physical paper as I held it in...
