Catalyst for a New High
The S&P 500 closed at yet another new high yesterday. The market was flat until about 2:00 pm. What was the catalyst that drove...
401(k) Nightmare: Part I
Twenty years ago, after graduating from Babson College with a finance/investments degree, I spent the summer backpacking through Europe. In the winter I worked as...
Risk and Iraqi Banking
Thinking about risk is often difficult. Small persistent risks often take a backseat to catastrophic risks that are easier to conceptualize. Skiing is a...
Win By Not Losing
If you have a dollar and lose $0.25 you’re left with $0.75. You’ve lost 25% of what you had, but to get back to...
Part-Time Work in Retirement
No one wants to work in retirement. But if you consider how valuable your time is, then working part-time may be something for you...
50 Years of Bear Markets
How would your portfolio withstand a 20% decline otherwise known as a bear market? In the first decade of this century we have had...
Caution! The Dangers of an Unbalanced Portfolio
If you’re readying for retirement make sure you understand the concept of counterbalancing—you’ll avoid the big losses. And your retirement will be much more...
Birth of a Crisis
In the aftermath of the last financial crisis, the Federal Reserve somehow managed to come away with its reputation mostly intact. Big commercial and...
Once in a Lifetime Stress?
You need to check out this stress index. The Kansas City Financial Stress Index is a monthly measure of stress in the U.S. financial...
Stop Losses Don’t Work
Enough with the stop losses. They don’t work for the average investor. They sound good on paper, but most investors don’t watch the market...