Blog.
Staying Disciplined Through the Bumps
Investment markets fluctuate. We all know that they do, and today they are fluctuating at lightning speed. The advent of electronic trading, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and retirement accounts that can be switched with a click or a call has led to an avalanche of trading. TD Ameritrade, a brokerage that caters to individual investors, has seen its average trading volume per account rise around 60% in the past 10 years.
Is Going Back to School the Best Way to Invest in Myself?
Question: I’m thinking about going back to school. Biz school, law school, grad school? I’m not sure which. All I know is that I can’t spend the next 20 years doing what I’m doing, and I think two or three years of school would break me out of my rut. I can handle the expense. What I’m really wondering is if school is the best way for a middle-aged person to invest in myself?
October 19, 1987 – Black Monday
On October 19, 1987 – Black Monday – the U.S. stock market crashed 22% in one day. Linda Brezezinski (my only staff member at the time) and I were very busy that day…buying! That night, I served as an adjunct faculty member for the CFB Board and taught a course at Northwestern Michigan College to those achieving Certified Financial Planner (CFP) designation.
Where Have All the Long-Term Investors Gone?
Everything is cyclical – spring/summer/fall/winter…recession/recovery/boom periods…deflation/inflation. An experienced farmer knows full well that weather directly affects the harvest, so he is prepared for both good and bad years. His success lies in the patient preparation and planting of the soil. Today, it seems that investors are obsessed with short-term performance (three years or fewer).
Do Ethics in Business Matter? (Aren’t the Bad Guys Winning?)
Question: I am in an argument with some friends who say that getting rich doesn’t require ethical behavior. On the contrary, they say, ethics get in the way of profits. They quote Donald Trump, Milton Friedman, Russ Limbaugh, and Adam Smith, and I’m at a loss as to how to counter their arguments without sounding like a spiritual Pollyanna.
Dividends Don't Lie
This month I’d like to discuss dividends. I’ll highlight a few stats that Swiss Bank UBS put out in a recent riveting 50-page report titled “Safe dividends in times of financial repression.” Before that, though, let’s briefly go over some dividend basics and our team’s recent thinking on dividend payers. I should also point out that Zach writes on one dividend-heavy sector for our managed accounts, real estate, later in this newsletter.
Anxiety, Lazy Brains, and Investing
Why invest? Why get an education? Why not just live for today? Why plan, be forward-looking or think about the future? Of course these are loaded questions, but the answer is simple: We must be forward-looking because we live in the future and have no choice but to assume that the world will be here tomorrow, that the economy will not crumble and my home will still be standing.
Should I Take a Volunteer Vacation?
Question: I need a vacation, and I’m happy to spend my hard-earned money someplace that needs it. But my husband wants to try a “volunteer” vacation. He says working to help desperate people will feel better than lying on the beach. I think we’ll be providing free (unskilled!) labor to a place with already high unemployment. I’d feel better by overtipping.
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore who governed for more than three decades from 1959 to 1990, passed away last month. Lee left a legacy that proved that you can change a culture, you can pull a country out of poverty and you can create a first-world county that’s ranked 7th in least amount of corruption, highest in pro-business, provides economic freedom, ease of doing business, social cohesion, employment, education and the 3rd highest per-capita GDP in the world.
Zero or Hero
During a recent investment committee meeting, I recalled a conversation I had back in the early ’80s with a fellow money manager who was much more experienced than me. I asked him what he thought the ideal “paranoid-conservative, set-it-and-forget-it portfolio” would look like. His response: 10% gold for economic uncertainties like hyperinflation and geopolitical stress, and 90% U.S. Treasury bills for stability.