When our kids were younger, I would sometimes declare an abnormally early bedtime like 6:00pm. It made complete sense to me: I’m tired, they’re tired, win-win. But my declarations were always met with much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then I would relent, pushing it out to 7:00pm, still getting all the tears, and ending
Category: Economics
Quarter in Charts – Q1 2025
This most recent quarter and the Tariff announcements immediately afterward (which we detailed in our Tariffs and a Declaration of Parental Independence blog post here) reminded investors that markets don’t move in straight lines. After a strong end to 2024, stocks stumbled out of the gate this year. The S&P 500 declined -4.3% as interest
Quarter in Charts – Q4 2024
When we consider the possible variations within a financial plan (investment markets, job changes, health concerns, family dynamics, etc.), we like to say, “It’s better to prepare than to predict.” It would be hard to find a year that defied predictions more than 2025. In the most recent update to his Annual Forecasting Follies, Bob
Quarter in Charts – Q3 2024
2024 is shaping up to be one of the rare years with no major asset class in decline (see far right column in the chart below.) Large Cap US, Foreign Stocks, and Real Estate have led the way, while Bonds and Commodities have returns barely more than money markets. Below, we will detail the relevant
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2024
A Quarter on Repeat Our family has a handful of stories we tell on repeat. There is the one about my driver’s ed instructor who made me go through the Burger King drive-thru to pick up her lunch (a “Whopper with no mayonnaise this time!” emphasis hers.) After discovering mayonnaise on her Whopper, she made
Quarter in Charts – Q1 2024
“Dad, our lawn looks like the Masters!” That’s an actual quote from our eleven-year-old son last weekend. When we moved in 12 years ago, the backyard was a jungle without a blade of grass. But over the years, we’ve slowly transformed it to allow us to host countless parties and backyard football games. It has
Quarter in Charts – Q4 2023
Happy Adjacent I recently learned the term “Happy Adjacent” when I stumbled on a YouTube series from Mythical Kitchen called “Last Meals.” The episodes center on Chef Josh Scherer asking famous people (some more famous than others) what they would eat for their last meal on Earth. Josh then recreates the meal, and they sit
Quarter in Charts – Q2 2023
Last month, I got swept up in reading Brian Doyle’s posthumous collection of essays, “One Long River of Song.” I was particularly drawn to his fascination with White Sturgeon. Specifically, an 11-foot-long…
Quarter In Charts – Q1 2023
Kids Today Have It Too Easy As a dad of teenagers, it’s my duty to occasionally put on the “grumpy old man” act and talk about how kids today have it too easy. I say things like, “You know when I was a boy…” followed by a misremembered anecdote of my days working at the
An Unaffordable Housing Market: Why and What’s Next?
The cost of home ownership has risen to an all-time high over the past 24 months, and there are three main reasons for this: Are current home prices and interest rates sustainable? I think we’d all agree the answer is “no,” but what story is the data telling us? And what can we expect to