Independent Investment Management and Financial Planning
That pile of Venezuelan currency (Bolivar) is equivalent to 1 U.S. Dollar. In fact, as I write this, one USD is worth about 140,000 Venezuelan Bolivars. Looks like you’d need a wheelbarrow of cash just to buy a loaf of bread…if there is even any bread left on the shelves.
Tariffs as a solution to chronic trade deficits have dominated the financial news cycle the last few months. There appears to be a lot of confusion around this topic. Therefore, I’d like to offer some clarification in the simplest terms possible. Continue reading “Are Trade Deficits Bad?”
Often a new economic boom begins when things couldn’t get much worse. High unemployment, high inflation, low / negative growth, and stagnant / declining asset prices all contribute to a feeling of misery, which is usually the prevalent emotion at the bottom of a bear market or economic cycle.
Continue reading “Then vs. Now. The Beginning of A Long-Term Cycle vs. The End of One”
This note was first published to my email subscribers on 1/10/2018.
Early this morning, at 4:26 AM CST to be exact, Bloomberg broke a story that senior officials in the Chinese government are considering reducing or halting purchases of U.S. Treasury Bonds. This caused stock futures to drop, USD to drop, and bond yields to spike (i.e. bond prices to fall) before the open.
So what is this all about and why is it such a big deal? Continue reading “China and U.S. Treasuries…What was this morning’s news all about?”
Healthcare for our family has been interesting over the last four years. Each year our premiums have increased dramatically while deductibles simultaneously skyrocketed. For a few years, the plan we had was no longer even available the following year.
So let’s make lemons out of lemonade and turn this into a friendly competition.
Continue reading “Guessing Game! Win $25 Gift Card, Gold, or Bitcoin!”