Read some of the articles we found interesting this week. Why Fund Managers May Be Right About the Fed, Jesse Eisinger, The New York Times Why the Fed’s Policy Approach Bothers Financial Types Like Me, Cullen Roche, Pragmatic Capitalism Wait for Your Pitch in Today's Market, John West, Research Affiliates Hedge Funds Bet on Freddie, Fannie Rise, Nick Timiraos, The Wall Street Journal Going Active, Brendan Conway, Barron’s … [Read more...]
Archives for May 2013
VIDEO: Plosser: Holding MBS Not Good for Fed
May 16 (Bloomberg) -- Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser comments on Fed monetary policy and the U.S. economy. He speaks in an interview with Manus Cranny on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg) [expand title="Click here to see the video."] [/expand] … [Read more...]
Will Summer Spell the End of the Bull Market?
As U.S stock prices continue their liquidity-fueled ascent, the rationalizations for remaining bullish on the U.S. stock market become more perverse by the day. Barron's is calling this the TINA market, as in There Is No Alternative to U.S. stocks. [expand title="Click here to read more."] How comforting. The best justification for putting your life savings into the stock market is, "Might as well, ain't nothing better." The peddlers pushing product for Wall Street's biggest banks are using a similar line of reasoning, telling their clients to load up on U.S. stocks because the American … [Read more...]
Shocking Statistics about American Savings
The New York Fed announced yesterday that household debt levels have fallen to $11.23 trillion, down from a peak of $12.68 trillion in the third quarter of 2008. That’s good news for Americans’ personal balance sheets, but paying off debt isn’t enough to get one through his golden years. Are you saving enough for retirement? [expand title="Click here to read more."] As you can see on the chart below. Savings rates have been very low for a long time. Since 2000, the average monthly savings rate has been 3.5%. For the last two months the rate has been below 2.8%. But the historical average … [Read more...]
VIDEO: We’ve Made Progress On Taxes: Swedish Fin Min
CNBC: Anders Borg the Swedish Finance Minister, tells CNBC that they are going to start negotiations with Switzerland and Lichtenstein and others based on anti-tax haven legislation. [expand title="Click here to watch the video."] [/expand] … [Read more...]
Guaranteed Income for Life!
Have you gone to a free dinner yet to hear about the lifetime income guarantee? Unfortunately, a client of mine did. He and his wife were lured in by the free dinner and listened to a presentation on annuities. Afterward, they talked to the guy and agreed to meet with him at their home the next week. [expand title="Click here to read more."] My client called me the day before the meeting with some reservations. He confessed what they had done. And he felt uneasy about the meeting. I educated him on the drawbacks of annuities and armed him with questions for the sales guy. Clearly, the … [Read more...]
What We’re Reading 5-10-13
Investors Rediscovering Margin Debt By Alexandra Scaggs and Steven Russolillo, WSJ Martin Feldstein: The Federal Reserve's Policy Dead End By Martin Feldstein, WSJ Are Stocks Cheap? A Review of the Evidence By Fernando Duarte and Carlo Rosa, Federal Reserve Bank of New York Harrison H. Schmitt and William Happer: In Defense of Carbon Dioxide By Harrison H. Schmitt And William Happer, WSJ … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Expectations for Central Banks Concern Plosser
[expand title="Click here to read more."] May 9 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser talks about global central bank policies, the U.S. economy and stocks. Plosser, speaking with Tom Keene and Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance," also discusses global central bank policies. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, also speaks. (Source: Bloomberg) [/expand] … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Buffett Doesn’t Practice What He Preaches- Altucher
[expand title="Click here to read more."] Author and investor James Altucher discusses why he believes investors cannot blindly follow Warren Buffett's advice [/expand] … [Read more...]
Stocks to Get You through a Historic Collapse
How would you like a 30-year partnership with the U.S. government where you get paid 2.82% a year? Ugly, right? Well, that’s the current yield on the 30-year Treasury bond. As you can see, it doesn’t get much worse than that. [expand title="Click here to read more."] For your trust and generosity, the government “guarantees” you a yield of 2.82% while it gets to use your hard-earned money to pile on more debt, devalue your existing dollars, and/or tax you more—take your pick. A better deal might be to partner with blue-chip stocks that pay you a dividend of around 4% a year. … [Read more...]