When the Recovery Will End, Emotion, Controversy Posted on July 5, 2019 By Matt When Will the Recovery End? (Spoiler Alert: It’s Already Over) After 10 years, surely the end of the recovery is near? I still see investment products pitched with this kind of wording. It turns out that the recovery ended 84 freaking months ago. Since then, we’ve been in expansion. 84… Read more
News Student Loans Posted on June 26, 2019 By Matt $1.6 trillion of student loan debt is spread among 44 million Americans. More than even avocado toast or a daily latte, student loans are being blamed for Millennials not being able to afford housing (even though they are the largest home-buying cohort). Some Presidential hopefuls say they’ve got the answer… Read more
Investing ONE TRILLION DOLLARS *pinky* Posted on May 17, 2019 By Matt The Trade War™ wiped over ONE TRILLION DOLLARS from the stock market on Monday. Will the market ever recover from this disaster? It turns out that a trillion bucks ain’t what it used to be. Financial reporters showed Monday’s market movement as -2.41%. Financial entertainers breathlessly echoed the ONE TRILLION… Read more
Investing Dry Powder Posted on January 9, 2019 By Matt I’ve got some dry powder set aside for a situation just like December. During a bear market (when the market drops 20%), the plan is to deploy half of it into equities. The S&P 500 fell 19.4% from September through Christmas Eve. It was chaos on CNBC. This was the… Read more
Investing I Blame SportsCenter Posted on October 11, 2018October 10, 2018 By Matt The market was down 3% yesterday although you’re more likely to see this as DOW PLUMMETS OVER 800 POINTS. I don’t know why it’s down, but neither does anyone else. No one knows what it will do from here, either. However, I do know how things will play out on… Read more
News Left of the Decimal Posted on June 21, 2018 By Matt Dow Jones has removed General Electric from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and replaced it with Walgreens Boots Alliance. GE was an original Dow stock and was part of the index for over 100 years. The Dow is how your parents consume the stock market which is why newscasts… Read more
News I’m Back, Baby! Posted on March 8, 2018 By Matt It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that’s because I’ve been busy with a new baby! Baby and Mom are happy and healthy. This is a pretty big difference from our first child who spent a ton of time in the hospital during his first two years. There’s a… Read more
Investing Has the Dow Left You Dazed and Confused? Posted on February 5, 2018 By Matt Let’s set aside the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is a flawed measure of the overall stock market. The media, your parents, and their parents have all accepted the Dow as the standard. Besides, over time the Dow does move in line with the overall market. So instead… Read more
Investing Doing Good While (Hopefully) Doing Well Posted on January 17, 2018January 16, 2018 By Matt Each year, BlackRock’s Chairman and CEO, Larry Fink, writes a letter to CEOs of “leading companies” in which BlackRock’s clients are shareholders. Last year’s letter encouraged long-term thinking in the context of a world that is increasingly focused on short-term volatility. This year’s letter strikes a similar tone, but goes… Read more
News Are You More Likely to Cheat with Bitcoin? Posted on December 8, 2017 By Matt I recently spoke with a client who wanted to know what could go wrong with bitcoin. We talked about bitcoin and the monetary system (not a risk now, but who knows in the future) as well as black market applications (greenbacks work just as well or better here). The question… Read more