Though I have been away from writing and blogging for several months, Christmas always inspires me to send some message,whether good or bad, to those I care about . So here I go. Throughout my life, I have heard dozens of people say, “If I had a million bucks…” and then go on to describe whatever (Continued)
What do you call a man trying to sell ice to Eskimos? “Unemployed”, of course! What do you call a man trying to sell debt to debtors? That would be: “Mr. President.” In his own words: Let’s do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers don’t have a pension. A Social Security (Continued)
In the past I have focused on some false financial ideas surrounding Christmas. Today, I want to consider a true, but often overlooked, component of the season. Imagine for a moment that you are one of the shepherds “watching and keeping the night watches over their flock.” And imagine further that “an angel” appears while (Continued)
Recently, a money manager that I otherwise greatly respect, said this rather despairing, if not delusional, statement: “Ultimately, there may be no such thing as a safe asset anymore and investors may want to take a diversified approach to something as mundane as cash.” [Emphasis added] The Rising Dollar Myth by Axel Merk. I know (Continued)
It is always dangerous to quote someone since one is likely to get labeled with the same calumnies that are heaped upon the principal author. This is even more the case when one quotes G. K. Chesterton, a writer whose incisive views and powerful reasoning always cause distress (or rapturous joy) in the reader. Chesterton, (Continued)
I apologize ahead of time for this somewhat “downer” blog, but today, I am fighting with my own industry and product providers about a new “interpretation of the rules” that could have deleterious effects on my clients. If we continue to allow the “rules of today” to mean something different tomorrow, then we will soon (Continued)
Perhaps the most important thing to know about finance is what are the unintended consequences of a proposed course of action. Unfortunately, these are very rarely discussed. What is discussed, rather, are over-simplified, numerical projections often with faulty inputs to boot. Then, armed with this false information, the consumer draws erroneous conclusions…often with devastating results. (Continued)
Last year I attempted to examine the real reason for the “commercialization” of Christmas. Today I am going to consider the act of giving and why such a thing makes us happy. If you plumb the depths of any action or profession, you will always find a great paradox (or several of them) that seems (Continued)
At the risk of being misconstrued, I will be short and to the point in this blog: There are no quick fixes to the problems plaguing our society, its government or our economic system. Just as the sky did not fall in the morning after we re-elected the one who is arguably the worst president (Continued)
Recently a client (and good friend) posed a question to me after hearing a sermon preached on the gospel story of the rich, young man, where Christ tells this man to “go, sell what you have and come follow me.” One of my friend’s questions was this: Am I not supposed to save, but (Continued)