I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately about the issues facing our country, particularly the financial dimension of government. Following the release of the Republican budget proposal authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, President Obama’s subsequent response and the recent downgrading by Standard & Poor’s of our country’s economic prospects, I thought I would share...Read More
Recently we have had conversations with a few clients about making changes to their portfolios due to the current events in Japan and the Middle East. Our advice is not to make changes based on current events. One should only revise their portfolio if their goals or personal circumstances change. A good friend of mine...Read More
As you probably know, I like to write to communicate my thoughts. However, recently I have been suffering from writer’s block. I think it’s because I am in observation mode about the economy, government policy and business; trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Everywhere I go I ask business owners, “How’s business?” The...Read More
As we have been writing for almost two years now, we expect the global economic recovery to be a slow process marked by occasional periods of extreme volatility. Our friends at PIMCO, the world’s largest bond manager, have named this “The New Normal.” The new normal is an economy that is in the process of...Read More
It’s been a while since we have seen the devastating market action that we have experienced these past few months. As advisors who council our clients to do the right thing, its very upsetting to see the value of our homes and portfolios depreciate as much as they have this past year. With the exception...Read More
The publicity generated by the liquidation of California-based IndyMac Bank – one of the nation’s largest savings & loans with $32 billion in assets – along with recent headlines focused on the Bear Stearns bailout and problems with mortgage giants Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac serve to underscore the fragile state of the nation’s financial infrastructure. Understandably,...Read More
There’s an old saying on Wall Street that markets can live with good news and they can live with bad news, but they can’t live with uncertainty. There’s an awful lot of uncertainty on Wall Street these days and that’s why there’s so much volatility in the markets. That uncertainty is derived from a number...Read More
The current vogue for hedge funds has caused this once arcane corner of the investment world to grow exponentially, doubling its assets under management in the last five years to about $1.4 trillion spread among 9,200 funds. Hedge funds once required you to be rich and put up big bucks to get in. Due to...Read More
