Anticipating the start of the swim portion of Raleigh’s 2017 Half Ironman, 99 strangers and I waded into Jordan lake. Five hours of grueling effort and quad cramps later, I finished the race to the sound of crowds chanting my name. Ok…maybe not the “crowds chanting my name” part, but I crossed the finish line. The only…
In short, yes. But don’t take our word for it: as seen in their 2017 annual report, the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees “project that the combined trust funds will be depleted in 2034“. However, the Social Security Administration and Congress have a few “levers” they can pull to extend this 2034 date…
UPDATE 11/13: It thrills me to no end to wake up today and read about Bill and Melinda Gates’ $100 Million commitment to curing Alzheimer’s. You can read about why he’s chosen to fund Alzheimer’s research on his blog. As a Rotarian, I’ve seen firsthand what their foundation has done to bring us “this…
“All analogies break down if taken too far, just like a car. Only there’s no gas station & maybe the mechanic is an editor or logician & also…” – Ken Jennings, Jeopardy Champion Against the advice of Ken Jennings, and in order to better understand the stock market, we often talk about a different asset…
For much of the year, we’ve told clients “let’s wait and see” when considering certain tax saving strategies like Roth conversions or a Qualified Charitable Distribution because we wanted to see what tax policies might come from Washington. On September 27th, the White House released the “Unified Framework for Fixing Our Broken Tax Code” to…
If you’ve ever pretended to know what “deflation” is then keep reading. Ray Dalio started his investment company, Bridgewater Associates, at age 26 out of his apartment. After forty years of investing, Bridgewater now manages around $160 Billion. Normally you have to go to college and sit through hours of lectures to grasp a 10,000…
Is your name really John Smith? The remarks about our names started early: “Jon and Anne Smith…are you kids using your real names? I’m gonna’ need some IDs.” This was the welcome we received 46 years ago from the desk clerk at the Holiday Inn, even though our getaway car had tin cans trailing and…
As we have previously written, it is difficult for investors to know what to look for in their search for a financial adviser (or advisor). In his most recent Intelligent Investor column for the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig updates the timeline of the fiduciary rule and points out that since its delay, “the burden…
Imagine you’re cleaning out your attic and run across a box of dusty old books. You decide it’s not worth the time and effort to sell them, so you take the whole box to the dump. That same night, you happen to update your mom on your completed to-do list, making sure to include all…
In 1976 I went to work as a stockbroker. Five other brokers and I shared a bullpen, the perfect Petri dish for the Herd Mentality. Every two desks shared a stock quote machine. We were in constant earshot of each other and “dialed for dollars,” almost in unison. When one of us hit a dry…
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