Uncategorized ONE TRILLION DOLLARS *pinky* Posted on May 17, 2019 By Matthew Garrott 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
Uncategorized Don’t Let the Kentucky Derby Pick Your Advisor Posted on April 30, 2019 By Matthew Garrott Horse racing can be a lucrative business. This year’s Kentucky Derby winner will bring home $1.86 million. The first Saturday in May is the only time America (outside of Kentucky) pays attention to horse racing. This might be stretched out to several weeks if the same horse wins the Preakness… Read more
Uncategorized How Much Does Money Cost? Posted on April 16, 2019 By Matthew Garrott The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis caught my eye with a tweet the other day: “If you would know the value of money, go and try to borrow some.” This quote from Benjamin Franklin got me thinking about the cost of money and how it impacts a few different… Read more
Uncategorized Where Are We in the Current Cycle? Posted on March 19, 2019 By Matthew Garrott Glad you asked! This is such a great question. It makes you look smart for asking it. You recognize that the market is cyclical and your question implies that you’re so savvy that you can sync your investing to take advantage of the market’s ebbs and flows. You’re a force… Read more
Uncategorized Golden Paw of Fairness Posted on March 14, 2019 By Matthew Garrott My older son’s school celebrates a positive trait each month (respect, courtesy, etc) and recognizes students that embody the month’s trait at an assembly. For February, William earned a golden paw award for fairness. I keep thinking about this because while William may display fairness to his fellow students, life… Read more
Uncategorized The Classic Bear Bottom Posted on February 27, 2019 By Matthew Garrott As I toasted a bagel in the kitchen at Fairway this morning, I heard a talking head on TV describe the Christmas Eve market drop as a “classic bear bottom”. A couple of the show’s co-hosts nodded sagely in agreement, but one pressed him. You recognized this as the bottom? … Read more
Uncategorized An Entire Sleeve of Oreos Posted on February 12, 2019 By Matthew Garrott As the first waves of taxes get prepared, many are finding that they are not getting as large a refund as they expected. This is often due to reworked withholding tables as the IRS tried to make it so fewer taxpayers gave Uncle Sam an interest-free loan this year. This… Read more
Tidbits and the Hardest Thing About Investing Posted on February 5, 2019 By Matthew Garrott 2019 has been great for investors as the S&P 500 gained 8.86% so far (through 2/4/2019) in reaction to the release of my investment philosophy. Ok, maybe there were other factors at play. If you missed the posts, portfolios should be Risk-Aware, Focused, Elegant, and Realistic. There were also some… Read more
Realistic Posted on January 25, 2019 By Matthew Garrott This is the fourth in a series of posts about my investing philosophy – Realistic. Investors should be realistic about their expectations and the nature of the markets. No one can predict the future. After hearing 10 years of “The easy money has already been made”, it’s clear that most can’t even… Read more
Focused Posted on January 11, 2019 By Matthew Garrott This is the second in a series of posts about my investing philosophy – Focused. It can be difficult to keep an eye to the big picture without getting distracted by all the different ways to invest. Focus is about maintaining perspective, understanding why we invest and measuring the success of those… Read more