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We watched the regional bank industry experience a "Back to the Future" event. You remember the financial crisis when banks failed in 2008. Fortunately, it is not as bad as 2008, but perhaps it could have been avoided. Make sure you read the last section of this newsletter because there is some good news. Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary, whose job is to monitor the bank industry, just a few days before the crisis unfolded on March 10th, spoke at a climate conference. Her presentat

Is the January Barometer Effect a Myth or a Reality?Before I get to the January Effect, let's just recap last year. As you probably know, nothing good happened in the markets. Jerome Powell (the Fed chairman) was renamed as a serial inflation killer. His mission impossible, which he decided to accept, was to raise rates to kill inflation and hopefully have a soft landing.It was tough on almost all areas of the markets with the Fed raising rates very aggressively, there was no place to hide i

How long does it take to recover from a bear market?It was announced on June 14th, 2022, that we are officially in a Bear market for the S&P 500. The NASDAQ index was declared to be in a bear market almost 3 months ago.  Personally, this is my fifth or sixth bear market as an investment advisor and I can't remember one of these bear markets as being fun for anybody.There is hope, but first, let's talk about what got us here. The government passing out trillions of pre-monies ove

What Kills A Bull Market? Not a week goes by when I do not field questions about what direction the market is heading. “The media pronounces that tomorrow at 9:30 sharp the market is going to crash.” “The market is going down because of the presidential job approval”. “The market is toast because of BREXIT.” “The market is going to bust because of the stars aligned and it is the Age of the Aquarius.”

DOES YOUR BROKER/FINANCIAL PLANNER HAVE A FIDUCIARY DUTY TO YOU? There is a lot of confusion with the different financial advisor designations. There is very little transparency on how a financial adviser gets paid. You know how your doctor is paid and your mechanic or hairstylist is paid. But even more importantly, investors want to know who is looking out for them. Well, basically it comes down to this. There are two standards that advisors and financial planners are held to - the suitabi

Let’s assume you’re not a rock star. What is it you can do you to help your beneficiaries minimize taxes upon your demise? Leave them a legacy through a Stretch IRA. The stretch IRA concept, which I have implemented for almost 20 years, is truly one of the most powerful money/investment techniques that I know, that doesn’t

In 1968, Archie Bell and the Drells unleashed a hit song called “Tighten Up.” More about the song later. With market volatility hitting extreme levels in October and continuing into November, I’m fielding more calls, emails, and questions, not only from clients from readers of my newsletters and website.

My 86-year-old Mother wanted to buy weed stocks (7-19-18).I bet you that title got your attention! A month ago I received a phone call from my mother and she asked me a question that I've heard multiple times from retirees over the last four or five years. How do I exactly buy some of these companies that are selling this marijuana? My mother said it looked like a tremendous new business opportunity. I replied to her with what I've been telling investors for years

I listened to our new Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, on June 13th, 2018. It was refreshing to hear the new Fed chairman speak in actual plain English. His predecessors, both feds and economists, were so longwinded with so many disclaimers, by the time they got to the meat of the program; most people had already changed the channel. Why should you care? Well, you should probably care if you have a credit card, auto loan, mortgage, more than $10,000.00 in a

I have met the World's Worst Investor (5-22-18). Over the years, I have had many clients comment to me during our initial meeting claiming to be the worst investor. I have finally met the world’s worst investor last week! He was an aeronautical engineer and he creates and runs very detailed spreadsheets on investments. He checks his investments at least two to three times a day. He handles 50% of his money and he has an advisor handles the other 50% of his money. His advisor

I have used an updated version of this chart for 20+ years. It represents what a long-term structural market looks like (sometimes called a secular market). I have received many questions about how long this bull market can last, and I always reference this chart to show that structural markets last for a very long time. Let me elaborate a little more on that. When we look at the chart and it says we are in a structural bull market, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have

You as an investor have witnessed stock market declines of 1,000-points in just the first week or so of February. It's been quite a while since we have seen this kind of volatility in the market. Really, everybody wants to know “Whodunnit?” If it looks like a correction, feels like a correction and acts like a correction

I don’t think anyone can argue that the last year in the stock market was about as good as you could’ve hoped for. However, going into 2018, there are some important key factors that contribute to where we stand: •Tax cuts will hit people’s paychecks and about 80% of workers will see a modest rise of disposable income.(Remember GDP, the most important economic barometer, is composed of 70% of the consumer