I come from a long line of people who can’t keep track of their things. When I was a kid, it was my soccer cleats or my homework. My dad (you might know him as Jonathan) would try to help. He would ask if I looked in the den or on the back porch. When
Category: Investing
The Quarter in Charts – Q1 2019
If there was ever a quarter that demonstrated the changing nature of investment markets, it was the first quarter of 2019. Below, we’ll walk through the critical themes of the quarter touching specifically on the yield curve and the possibility of a recession. Asset Class Returns So far in 2019, investors have experienced double-digit returns
On Market Volatility and What to Believe
“They were told where they belonged, and they acted accordingly.” In his book, Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely highlights how our understanding of our current situation impacts how we will behave in the future. “One stereotype of Asian Americans, for instance, is that they are especially gifted in mathematics and science. A common stereotype of females
Ze Pain of Market Corrections – Q3 2018 Market Commentary
(Updated: In an earlier version of this post, I couldn’t recall the name of the children’s book I reference throughout. I offered a $25 reward, payable to the sleuth’s charity of choice, for anyone who could help me. In less than a day, one of our readers emailed me the title “The Creature Department”. I happily
The Quarter In Charts – Q2 2018
Below are some pictures that help illustrate the current investment landscape. All of these charts show us where we’ve been, but none guarantees to show us what will happen in the future. Even though valuations tend to “revert to the mean” and certain data points can be leading indicators, nothing is guaranteed. In fact, that’s
Winning the Retirement Game: A Look at Risk and Return
Playing a 3,000 Year-Old Board Game in Front of 200 Million People I’m a sucker for board games and Netflix documentaries, so when I stumbled on AlphaGo, I was sucked in. It chronicles the story of how a research group, DeepMind, developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based computer program (AlphaGo) so advanced it took on
How to Save $9 Million on a Legal Secretary’s Salary
Sylvia Bloom started in 1947 as a legal secretary and finished as a legal secretary, 67 years later Sylvia Bloom was born in Brooklyn in 1917, the daughter of Eastern European immigrants and a child of the 1929 Depression. She attended New York public schools and graduated from high school. She worked days to attend
4 Myths About Roth IRAs
“Is a Roth IRA right for me?” is a simple question with a complex answer. Even worse, myths and misconceptions surrounding Roth IRAs make them seem more complicated than they are. We’ll address the four most common rules covering withdrawals, contribution limits, home purchases, and taxes. Even if these rules don’t apply to you, it’s
Explaining Market Losses to a 10 Year-Old
Today the Dow Jones experienced a 4% drop, closing below 24,000 for the first time since November 28th (just 72 days ago). Furthermore, in the last 9 trading days, the Dow has dropped 10.3% from it’s all-time high (thus officially earning the name “a correction”). While it’s unsettling to see a pullback in the market,
Is Social Security Going Bankrupt?
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