Culprits of the Collapse: Part 1
Monday, February 15th, 2021CNN is now doing a series dramatically entitled “10 Most Wanted: Culprits of the Collapse.” They’ve put the CEOs of AIG and Lehman, the SEC Chairman and even Alan Greenspan on this list. We’re comprising our own list of reasons we are in this mess. One of the top reasons is that Wall Street firms […]
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) – free money?
Monday, February 1st, 2021Many of our clients now have an option to choose a high-deductible health insurance plan paired with an HSA. To participate or not to participate? Generally, the answer is yes. HSAs have some critical differences from the flex spending accounts (FSAs) that have been around for awhile. 1) FSAs are “use it or lose it”. […]
Lend long, borrow short: Still a bad idea
Friday, January 29th, 2021For about two years, we told clients that we were concerned about the financial markets. There were a number of “imbalances” in the system. We didn’t know when or how these would start to correct but we were confident that they would eventually have to work themselves out. We told everyone to expect bumps and […]
Burton Malkiel on the world today
Thursday, October 29th, 2009One of the perks of our job is we get invited to great conferences. Jessica was able to attend a special conference Vanguard held for independent financial advisors like ourselves. The keynote speaker was Burt Malkiel (author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street” and someone who has gotten the big picture right consistently over […]
Dinner with Axel Merk
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009I attended a dinner last night sponsored by the Financial Planning Forum, a Palo Alto based group of attorneys, accountants and people like us. The speaker was Axel Merk, an economist and founder of Merk Investments. Merk has two public mutual funds – one of which focuses on “hard” currencies and the other offers access […]
Australia, on the cheap
Sunday, December 14th, 2008Australia, until recently, had very high interest rates. Japan had very low interest rates. Recipe for easy money: borrow money in Japanese Yen, convert it into Australian Dollars and then invest it in Australia. This was called the “carry trade”. This was done by all self-respecting hedge funds who wanted to make a quick buck. […]
Foreclosure: What it looks like
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008Foreclosure on a mass scale is really stupid. Some obvious questions: Can’t we figure out some way to transition buyers back to being renters that saves the cost of foreclosure to the banks and the pain to the homeowner? Can’t the cities, state governments and non-profits work with the banks to keep perfectly good furniture […]
Yet another economic update
Friday, September 19th, 2008Our financial markets update to clients (September 19, 2008): The usual caveats apply. Everyone’s financial situation differs. Consult your own advisor or do your own research. We have been wrong before. ——————————————————– We apologize for the barage of emails but we’ve experienced a decade’s worth of financial events in a week. We will give a […]
Worse Before Better – An Update
Wednesday, September 17th, 2008Our financial markets update to clients (September 17, 2008): The usual caveats apply. Everyone’s financial situation differs. Consult your own advisor or do your own research. We have been wrong before. [Formatting problems at the bottom are known issue. Webmaster on the case.] ———————————————————————— Lehman is toast, Merrill’s in a shotgun wedding and AIG is […]
Worse Before Better
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008Our financial markets update to clients (September 10, 2008): The usual caveats apply. Everyone’s financial situation differs. Consult your own advisor or do your own research. We have been wrong before. ———————————————————————— Shocking VP picks, Russian invasions and now a government takeover of Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FHLMC)… the news just won’t stop […]
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