11 Jul 2014

Posted at 11:50h in General by
Just this week I received three invitations to steak dinners at Ruth's Chris and Sullivan's in Raleigh, promising all the information I would need for a happy retirement. Not surprisingly, they all came from local companies we know as annuity sellers. One of the invitations came from an agent who has a local radio show who unashamedly calls himself a fiduciary. Why the regulators allow this guy to imply he has no fiduciary conflicts of interest when he sells annuity products with compensation ranges anywhere from 1% to 7% as well as incentive trips and other perks is beyond me.

15 Mar 2013

Posted at 13:16h in The Friday Brief by
The topic of new stock highs continues to dominate conversations these days. Some argue the economy simply doesn't support the market while others are convinced that the concurrent improvement in stocks and economic indicators portends better times ahead. The S&P 500 (pictured below) is now up 9.1% for the year, having increased 2.7% for the month so far. The index is just a few points away from its all-time highs. Once crossed it will join the company of other indexes exploring new heights like the Dow Jones Industrials and the Wilshire 5000.

02 Aug 2002

Posted at 16:01h in The Friday Brief by
Optimism is a wonderful trait, and we Americans seem to own the rights to it.  We are born with it in vast supply and our unique culture richly nourishes it.  Entrepreneurs, CEO’s, investors, and stock analysts are poster children of American optimism.  Problem is, it got out of hand in the late 90’s and we must now pay the price, as economic and company results fall relentlessly short of expectations.  In truth, the results aren’t really quite so bad as they seem; it’s our expectations that are too high.