December 2016

No Picture

News, Opinion December 27, 2016

HBTM: 12-27-2016 Dow 20,000 Edition

How ‘Bout That Market?  This is a question I hear at social gatherings often enough that it makes sense to make it a regular entry on this website. The Market The last week of the year is usually pretty sleepy.  This year’s final week is book-ended by holidays which means a terrific drive in to work for me as everyone takes advantage of long weekends.  I don’t usually expect financial news this week, but this year the Dow Jones Industrial Average is bumping up against 20,000 which is a MAJOR MILESTONE/PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIER.  Will we hit 20k?  It wouldn’t take much, but it really wouldn’t mean much either. 20,000 is just a number.  Don’t forget that the DJIA is just 30 stocks and the index is price-weighted rather than market cap weighted.  This means that even though Apple is the largest public company on the planet, eight other stocks have a…

No Picture

News December 19, 2016

HBTM: 12-19-2016

How ‘Bout That Market?  This is a question I hear at social gatherings often enough that it makes sense to make it a regular entry on this website. The Market The Federal Reserve raised rates last week, but everyone expected that so the announcement was received with an initial shrug of the shoulders.  As more people read into the Fed’s statement, they noticed the Fed expects to raise rates three times in 2017.  This caused the market to drop by less than a percent?  Maybe?  Speculating about the market’s daily moves just isn’t my thing and if it’s your thing, then I think you should get a different thing. Focusing on the daily noise makes it easy to neglect the long-term and that’s dangerous for any investor.  Also, millions of actions influence the markets every day.  It’s silly to point at one thing and say, yep, that’s why the market…

No Picture

Investing, Opinion December 12, 2016

HBTM: 12/12/2016

How ‘Bout That Market?  This is a question I hear at social gatherings often enough that it makes sense to make it a regular entry on this website. The Market The stock markets have been going up since the election.  Is this a Trump rally?  I hesitate to say so as the election still looms large in the rear view mirror.  It’s also worth noting that this gets filed under Obama’s record.  The markets seem to be adjusting quickly to what they expect under a Trump administration.  There is a shift in sentiment from the tech sector to what I’d call Make America Great Again (#MAGA) stocks (industrial and manufacturing – financials, too).  This makes sense from the standpoint that the President-elect focused on these types of businesses during the campaign, but if protectionist policies are implemented, I would expect a negative impact on these companies.  But really, who knows?  What’s…

Filthy Casual

Investing, Opinion December 9, 2016

Filthy Casual

I am a gamer.  I like role-playing games like Fallout and Final Fantasy as well as real-time strategy games like Starcraft.  However, according to the internet, I play these games all wrong.  I like to take my time and get lost in the story.  This is not the fastest or most efficient way to beat a game which puts me dangerously close to being a ‘Filthy Casual’ in internet-speak.  That is, my goal is not to optimize my playthrough like a ‘Hardcore’ player might.  It could be worse.  I could be a n3wb. This really does tie back to investing, I swear. There are countless blog posts dedicated to crafting the most efficient portfolio.  Finance Twitter is full of people who will argue asset allocations past the decimal point.  Advisor forums are almost toxic with folks who belabor semantics, dredge up endless white papers, and worship at the altar of Modern…