The Proof Is In The Pudding…Really? What Flavor?

I do not hide the ball from my clients and prospective clients.  I am more than straightforward with my advice about where to store their wealth since I even publish my recommendations.  But there are dangers to being this overt and frank.  One is the danger that my advice could be misconstrued or over-simplified.  A (Continued)

A Greek Peek Into The Future

There are lessons to be learned from the “Greek crisis”, but you will be hard-pressed to find them in the mainstream media.  Yes, the media pundits will blather on about how a sovereign default will hurt our economy and stock market, but what solutions do they offer to either Greece or to Mr. Smith in (Continued)

Ripped Off…Royally!

In a recent USA Today article entitled “Cash is King for ex-CEO of Pimco,” we are told that the former CEO of PIMCO, Mohammed El-Erian, is “keeping most of his money…in an unusual place – cash.”  El-Erian explains, “That’s not great, given that it gets eaten up by inflation.  But I think most asset prices (Continued)

The Fat Lady Has A Name

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)

An Asset for the Keeping…and Nurturing!

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)

The State of Corruption

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)

Mortgage Myths and Real World Finance

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)

Effects of a Dishonest Money System

For this month’s blog, I am going to use an excerpt from the book, Money! Questions and Answers by Fr. Charles Coughlin circa 1935.  Chapter VI of this book, Effects of a Dishonest Money System, offers 15 rather chilling prophecies when looked at with the benefit of 75+ years of hindsight.  And while Fr. Coughlin (Continued)