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Young Research & Publishing Inc.

Investment Research Since 1978

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Young People Can’t Afford Homes: Is the Fed to Blame?

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Young Americans are increasingly priced out of buying homes. Along with their high levels of student debt, low levels of family formation, and lack of housing supply, a big part of what may be holding them back is a Federal Reserve monetary policy that regularly seeks to boost asset prices by holding down interest rates. Reade Pickert reports for Bloomberg: Faced with higher property prices and piles of student debt, Americans are getting older and older before they buy a home. The median age of first-time home buyers has increased to 33, the oldest in records dating back to 1981, … [Read more...]

Stock Investors: Set it and Forget it!

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You can read until you’re blue in the face about how the current high level of cash is a bullish signal. That investors, fearing they’re missing the boat may begin to pile into the stock market. That may be the case, but does it mean you should increase your allocation to stocks? It depends. Do you have the patience to hang in there if they fall in value by say 20 percent? Or are you hoping for a gain of 20 percent to make life “easier?" I think you’d be wise to remember what my father in law Dick Young says, “Hope is not a strategy.” You can also read about how the investment committees of … [Read more...]

Are You Saving the Right Way?

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How much is your bank paying you on your savings account? If you have a savings account at Bank of America, you’re likely getting paid $5 for every $10,000 you have deposited. That’s 5 basis points or .05%. Do you know how long it would take to double your money at a .05% rate of return? Almost 1,400 years. BofA’s savings account yield makes Schwab look generous with a .10% cash yield. And Fidelity looks like an absolute saint, offering investors a yield of 1.5% on their core cash account. Who do you have to thank for the paltry interest you are earning on your savings … [Read more...]

Does Big Government Create Poverty?

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Perhaps the best thing about suggestions by candidates like Bernie Sanders and Liz Warren to a welfare model closer to those seen in Europe is that there are years of evidence about what that could mean for Americans. Despite the candidates' cherry-picking of old and debunked data, there is a lot of evidence in Europe that legislating wealth equality will, in fact, have the opposite effect. My friend Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute writes about a new study by Pirmin Fessler and Martin Schurz that suggests welfare programs are making wealth inequality worse, not better. Fessler and … [Read more...]

New Update! Ken Fisher Won’t Take No for an Answer

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“We ended ours a long time ago. It was a disaster from day 1,” a reader wrote to me recently. Then there’s this: “The hard-selling was relentless, even infuriating, prospective customers said,” explains Janet Lorin at Bloomberg. “Marketers called homes, spammed work email and impersonated friends, colleagues, and government officials.” The Bloomberg article continues: “CALLS REPEAT EVERY DAY. I SUBMIT A COMPLAINT EVERY DAY. NO CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN. WHAT CAN I DO???????????????????,” a resident from Waterford, Pennsylvania, wrote in a July 2016 email. Would-be clients were … [Read more...]

There are Two Ways to Avoid Investor Overkill

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I wrote in March 1991: Listen to me and listen to me hard as I tell you that investors miss the boat over and over because (1) they insist on timing the market, (2) they insist on investing with emotion keyed to events of the moment, and (3) they steadfastly refuse to buy when news is bleak. It’s the old buy-high-sell-low game again and again. Most investors regularly equate action with profits. But you don’t want a lot of action in your portfolio and you only need to follow a handful of indicators and a handful of investments. Most investors simply cannot help themselves, and that leads … [Read more...]

These Two Eastern States Are Open for Business

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There were only two states on the East Coast that ranked in the Top 10 of the Tax Foundation's 2020 State Business Tax Climate Index. Those states were Florida at number 4, and New Hampshire at number 6. In the ranking, states were graded on corporate taxes, individual taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and unemployment insurance taxes. Florida led the nation with the best ranking for individual income taxes and also secured the second-best ranking for unemployment insurance taxes. Florida placed in the top half of states in all categories. This year New Hampshire moved to 6th … [Read more...]

Tax Planning: Don’t Buy Mutual Funds’ Cap Gain Distributions

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When you invest in your retirement life, it’s paramount you harness the advantages of a tax-efficient investment strategy. One strategy is to avoid surprise year-end capital gains distributions from mutual funds. Year-end distributions are why I prefer having individual, dividend-paying stocks in a brokerage account rather than the uncertainty that comes with mutual funds around this time of year. Take caution. Be prudent. Do not buy a fund around this time of year to immediately be on the hook for a tax gain. It’s like showing up for dinner, after it’s been eaten, and being stuck … [Read more...]

Since When do Democrats Want to Lower Taxes on the Wealthy?

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Democrats in the Senate attempted and failed to loosen the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions yesterday. This seems odd because the burden of the cap falls heavily on wealthy taxpayers, and since the Bush administration Democrats haven't given an inch when it comes to lower taxes on wealthier Americans. The problem with the cap may arise for Democrats in that it hits the wealthy in high-income tax, Democrat voting states the hardest. In other words, Democrat politicians' donors. Richard Rubin reports in The Wall Street Journal: Full repeal of the cap would deliver more than half … [Read more...]