”Twisting the Lion’s Tail”

Seeing how far the “Britishers” will bear provocation. “To give the lion’s tail another twist” is to tax British forbearance a little further. No doubt the Kingdom is averse to war with civilized nations, and will put up with a deal rather than apply the arbitration of arms. Even victory may be bought dearly. Such … Continued

Do You Know How Much You’re Paying for Investment Advice?

The U.K., the Netherlands and Australia have recently established new rules that will ban commissions on popular investments like mutual funds with a view to eliminating hidden charges. Competent, professional investment advice has value. After all, a difference of just 1% in annual returns amounts to approximately $180,000 over a ten-year period on an original … Continued

Opportunities Abound in Developing Markets

Earlier this week Louis Chenevert, CEO of United Technologies (UTX), was interviewed at the Paris Air Show. UTX is the manufacturer of the Pratt and Whitney airplane engines as well as the Sikorsky Helicopter. Chenevert was very bullish on the airline industry for the next one to two decades! When pressed on the reasons for … Continued

Your Vantage Point Matters

In order to enhance my grasp of global economic issues, I subscribe to a newsletter service called Stratfor. Many large corporations and government agencies are also subscribers because the company’s analysts are former military or intelligence personnel and their perspectives are often unique and valuable. I consider the owner of Stratfor, George Friedman, to be … Continued

Rise in China’s Aging Population Prompts a Rethink for the US

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported one of many challenges China is facing: fast-growing numbers of elderly people. By 2015 there will be 220 million people older than 60 years old in China, compared with about 180 million today. According to the projections from the National Bureau of Statistics, within 40 years China will … Continued

“Sell in May and Go Away”

This is only one of the hundreds of clever, and sometimes accurate, snippets of wisdom that populate the investment spectrum. Also, currently timely would be “June Swoon” and “Summer Rally”. In fairness, there is generally some historical basis for most of this type of “wisdom”. For example, on average, since 1950, substantially all of the … Continued