You have read here about the power of compounding, and patience. Both are functions of time. Warren Buffett calls investing over a long time horizon the "Methuselah Technique." Jason Zweig reports in the Wall Street Journal: This Sunday, Warren Buffett turns 90. The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. BRK.B -0.18% is one of the most successful investors of all time, having amassed a net worth estimated at $82 billion. Yet he accrued nearly 90% of that sum after the age of 65. Investing well is important, but investing well for a long time matters even more. “I’ve long recommended,” … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2020
Robinhood Currently Failing its Customers
Robinhood Markets, a trading app that many investors flocked to during the COVID-19 shutdown, is having trouble today. It's not the first time. Bloomberg reports: Robinhood Markets has catapulted ahead of its online brokerage rivals with a smartphone app that has attracted an army of young investors. Yet with the company’s rise has come a litany of problems: trading outages, angry customers and regulatory probes. Over the first half of the year, U.S. consumer protection agencies received more than 400 complaints about Robinhood -- roughly four times more than competitors like Charles … [Read more...]
Fed Adopts Bubble-Bust Monetary Policy Following Strategy Review
The Fed announced the results of its year-long monetary policy strategy review yesterday at its virtual Jackson Hole conference. Powell delivered the bad news for savers and retirees. The Fed will now seek to target an average level of measured inflation rather than a 2% ceiling. The Fed’s justification for this change in policy is it has missed its 2% goal for the last decade. When measured by a narrow and manipulated price index that uses non-market prices and strips out some of the most important goods a consumer buys, inflation has run below the 2% target. But who’s fooling who … [Read more...]
Your Best Asset is What You Bring to the Table
Literally. You are the best asset you've got. Are you a farmer who can grow a crop of corn or tomatoes? Are you a skilled mechanic who could help neighbors repair their machines? The skills and production you bring to your community are what pay for your meals, home, and everything else. The money you use to make the transactions is just a means of transferring those skills to others. You've probably read about the current coin shortage in America. While that's inconvenient, businesses have been finding ways around it by using electronic payments or simply rounding to the nearest … [Read more...]
SEC Cracks the Floodgates to New Hedge Fund Investors
You may already be an "accredited investor," with more than $1 million in net assets (excluding your home) or $200,000 in annual income. If so, you've long had the ability to invest in hedge funds, where you get the privilege of paying the managers 20% of your profits and 2% of your assets. But now, the SEC is allowing many more Americans to play at the hedge fund casino. Paul Kiernan reports in The Wall Street Journal: The Securities and Exchange Commission deemed more investors capable of navigating the opaque world of leveraged buyouts, hedge funds and startups, a decision likely to … [Read more...]
Is the Consumer Spending Boom Destined to Turn to Bust?
Dick’s Sporting Goods reported a blowout quarter this week. Apparently, handing out a few thousand dollars to every household in America, while at the same time closing down every gym in the country, has created a boom in at-home fitness equipment. Dick’s fitness business is basically sold out. Golf clubs are also flying off the shelves as are boats, RVs, and fishing poles. It’s good to see consumers spending their windfalls, but are we simply looking at a one-time jolt to economic growth that will fizzle as the stimulus wears off? Has all the spending during COVID, simply pulled a few … [Read more...]
Kudlow: This is No Time for Joe Biden’s $4 Trillion Tax Hike
I always love Larry Kudlow’s enthusiasm and can-do attitude. It’s the spirit for what our economy is built upon. Kudlow knows there's a fine line between success and failure, and that it's freedom that makes the difference. Before the unpredictable China virus hit American shores, Larry Kudlow had helped Donald Trump craft an economic policy that had driven unemployment levels to near record lows (see my chart below). In a speech to the Republican National Convention last night, Kudlow promised more tax cuts and regulatory rollback in Trump's second term. He specified: Payroll … [Read more...]
Investors Facing Long-Awaited ETF Industry Shakeout
You have probably invested at some point in ETFs or ETNs. The exchange-traded investments have thrived for decades now as a lower-cost and more efficient alternative to mutual funds. But after years of huge fund companies issuing new ETFs and ETNs by just throwing products at the wall to see what stuck, the industry is shaking out. The Wall Street Journal reports that this year alone 188 exchange-traded products have been shut down. Michael Wursthorn writes: Asset managers have closed more exchange-traded products than they have launched this year, a sign of how market gyrations have … [Read more...]
Starbucks is Putting the Blockchain on Your Coffee Beans
Isis Almeida reports for Bloomberg that Starbucks customers will now be able to find the farm that grew their coffee beans by using blockchain technology. She writes: Starting Tuesday, customers buying coffee at Starbucks stores across the U.S. will be able to use a code on the bags to find out where their beans came from, where they were roasted and even get brewing tips from baristas, said Michelle Burns, the company’s senior vice president of global coffee, tea and cocoa. A reverse code will be given to farmers so that they can finally track their produce. The new tool, powered by … [Read more...]
Despite COVID, Small Businesses More Optimistic in Trump Era vs. Obama Era
Even after the crushing punishment blue state governors have wrought on small business owners, they are still more optimistic under President Trump today than they were for nearly the entire Obama-era. Blue state governors have come out to protect the rich, but President Trump has worked hard to get America's small businesses running again. Some governors, like South Dakota's Kristi Noem, have helped. States like South Dakota that have remained open have fared better than the lockdown states. Americans working in the service industry also feel better now than they did in most of the … [Read more...]
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