4 Things I’m Watching Posted on October 25, 2021 By Matt My last post was one year ago. The topics dominating headlines have changed (other than the pandemic), but what hasn’t changed is uncertainty. The longer I’m in this business, the more I realize that uncertainty is always present. That is, it’s a present-tense issue. Uncertainty is misremembered in hindsight. Things… Read more
Due Diligence The SPAC Fad Posted on October 20, 2020 By Matt SPACs are having (another) moment. SPAC stands for Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Often referred to as “blank-check” companies, a SPAC is initially just a management team. The team raises funds via IPO. Investors bet that the team will buy a private business and make it more valuable. Usually, the team… Read more
Investing Election Season Posted on August 14, 2020 By Matt Election season can be difficult for investors of all political stripes. Uncertainty abounds. It’s easy to tie a piece of one’s identity to a candidate or party. If they win, we feel like winners. If they lose, we feel diminished. As far as investing goes, however, our candidates’ fates have… Read more
Investing Where are the Bees? Posted on August 5, 2020 By Matt “Where are the bees?” I saw this question asked on a local social media group recently. Several replies expressed the same sentiment. It seems like the neighborhood has a bee shortage, likely due to the overwhelming collapse of the world’s insect population. Surely the only insects left standing in a… Read more
Fast Animals Posted on July 15, 2020 By Matt My last post was on April 24th. It’s safe to say a lot has happened since then. I’ve been on radio silence here because: I was writing quite a bit for work and needed to rest my brain Writing updates as a market is recovering is met with a great… Read more
Investing Long-Term Posted on March 12, 2020 By Matt Long-Term There’s an old joke on Wall Street that investors like to say that they invest with a long-term mindset. It’s just that long-term means only until the next bear market. Stock is a claim on a company’s assets and future earnings. There are a bunch of different ways to… Read more
Investing Coronavirus Update Posted on February 28, 2020February 28, 2020 By Matt Here’s how I see it. The recovery since 4Q2018 was so smooth that the markets have been looking for a reason to sell off for a while. Acceleration dropped after 4Q2018 fell off of the 1 year numbers. The markets hiccuped after news of the coronavirus got really serious at… Read more
Investing Coronavirus Fears Posted on February 24, 2020 By Matt Stocks are off by about 3% this morning (as of noon on 2/24/2020) on fears that cases of coronavirus are accelerating outside of China. Should you worry? For the “general American public“, the answer is no. Does that mean that only an idiot would be concerned by this? No. Identifying… Read more
Investing Putting a Name to the Fear Posted on September 25, 2019 By Matt Putting a Name to the Fear “I’m afraid there will be a recession soon.” No, you’re not. “I’m afraid the stock market will go down.” No, you’re not. “I’m afraid I will lose my money.” Close, but no. What does losing money mean? Money is not the thing we want… Read more
Investing iPhones, IPOs, and Interest Rates – The I’s Have It Posted on September 12, 2019 By Matt iPhones, IPOs, Interest Rates Lots of random news today, none of which warrants a full post from me due to either lack of opinion or lack of expertise. However, here are some places that have worthwhile views on each of these subjects. Also, don’t forget about the Northeast Ohio PKD… Read more