SPACs, NFTs, and other jungle creatures

“The American marketplace is an economic jungle. As in all jungles, you easily can be destroyed if you don’t know the rules of survival. … But you also can come through in fine shape and you can even flourish in the jungle—if you learn the rules, adapt them for your own use, and heed them.” […]

What does it mean to short a stock and what’s going on with GameStop?

GameStop has been in the news in the last week as the share price jumped from $35 to $350, and is up from an April intraday low of $2.57. There are lots of things going on with this but the one getting the most attention is the “short squeeze.” We’re going to describe what a […]

Investment lessons found in the year of the coronavirus

Investors nerves were tried throughout 2020, yet those investors who avoided behavioral mistakes and didn’t let their emotions get the best of them were rewarded handsomely.  The year was full of lessons, but some highlights were:   Market results are unpredictable- Missing the best market day in March would have cost you 10%.  That “lost” […]

Presidential election reflection

Here’s an interesting puzzle: Why do we cringe at the sight or sound of breaking glass, but we salivate over breaking news? In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, you’ve probably been hit by enough breaking news to propel you well into 2021. Predictions abound on who will prevail, and what will happen to […]

Eight best/worst investment strategies during the coronavirus

The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time. — Michel de Montaigne For better or worse, many of us have had more time than usual to engage in new or different pursuits in 2020. Even if you’re as busy as ever, you may well be revisiting […]

It doesn’t take a genius to be a good investor

It doesn’t take a genius to be a good investor And geniuses often aren’t. This summer marked the 300th anniversary of the South Sea Bubble when Britain’s South Sea Company went from £128/share in January of 1720 to over £1,000 by August, and then crashed to £124 by the end of the year. The most […]

Rebalancing – why buy stocks now?

Rebalancing the allocation among risky assets in your investment portfolio is an important discipline.  It provides a structured way to maintain consistent risk exposure over time and forces us to “buy low and sell high” when it is not always the comfortable thing to do.  This quarter is a good example, in the midst of […]

Three thoughts during scary markets

So, remember all those times we’ve said that investment risks and expected rewards are related? Coronavirus-fueled fears, driving economic insecurities, aggravating a host of simmering global sore spots, spiraling into stomach-wrenching market sell-offs … Be it confirmed. Today’s unfolding news is the realization of those risks we’ve been talking about all along. In case you’ve […]

Expected returns: a review of 2019 and looking ahead to the 2020s

Each year large Wall Street firms post their expected returns for the next decade. A year ago, we saw the following forecasts: *  Denotes a seven-year forecast The biggest thing that stands out here is the poor performance expected by U.S. Equities. Despite 93 years of annualized returns in excess of 9.5%, the best research […]

Three upside-down investment insights

Often, all you need to be an excellent investor is a healthy dose of common sense: A penny saved is a penny earned. Buy low, sell high. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. That said, the best way to achieve these simple goals isn’t always as obvious. In fact, many of our favorite […]