Your investing future does not have to be relegated to a public transportation type of experience. You have a choice. And you can go in first class comfort or, instead, take a seat in the back of the bus. Here’s what I mean. To start, don’t spring for yesterday’s investments – stock index funds or most equities centric funds. Don’t settle for government bonds that pay virtually nothing today, or for casino-like big S&P 500 stocks that pay no dividends but often sell for criminal market cap-to-sales ratios. By now you undoubtedly realize that robo-advisors, whatever they are, offer … [Read more...]

Tiny remote Sweden, partially sitting in the polar region, is home to only a little over 10 million souls. China, meanwhile, is a massive country, home to nearly 1.4 billion. You may not think Sweden would have the wherewithal to defeat China in any theater of competition, but in one growing industry, Sweden is prepared to dominate its Chinese rival. In the race for 5G technology leadership, Sweden’s Ericsson may be about to best China’s Huawei. Or, more accurately, Huawei’s ties to China’s Communist Party government are about to blow the technology company’s chances of a worldwide 5G … [Read more...]

Do you consider yourself well-prepared? There’s no predicting some scenarios— the so-called Black Swans. Below is a troubling illustration I wrote some time ago of just how bad facing the unexpected can feel: Knock, Knock It’s 1:30 a.m.—pitch black on your suburban porch. A woman whom you do not recognize is at your front door, while an unfamiliar car idles in your driveway. Peeking out, you talk through a side window to the interloper, who explains that you had called her, and here she is. Your 1911 Handgun You, of course, had not called her, and, as a phone call goes into the police, … [Read more...]

For the past ten years, the stock market has been an elevator that has only gone up. Now the cord has snapped. What floor are you falling from? Here’s how I explained what I call “elevator investing” some years back. I wrote: Elevator Investing Where do you want to be when the cord snaps? I often think of risk management with a simple elevator analogy. In the investment process, I quantify risk first. Then I evaluate potential gains. Just envision, if you were in an elevator and the cord snapped, where would you be better off? Dropping from the second floor or the 10th floor? Makes your … [Read more...]