In the final analysis, the definitive question in assessing autonomous vehicle operation is, are you the driver or are you a passenger? Clearly, there has been a significant increase in the availability of automated driving technology and the industry continues to develop and market new and enhanced systems. In order to provide a common vocabulary … Continued
Day trading is not investing! Wikipedia defines day trading as “speculation in securities, specifically buying and selling financial instruments within the same trading day, such that all positions are closed before the market closes for the trading day. Traders who trade in this capacity with the motive of profit are therefore speculators.” Investors construct portfolios, … Continued
With the stock market bouncing off all-time highs again, I’ve seen a large number of market forecasters making predictions about the future path of the U.S. economy and financial markets. If you enjoy hearing the predictions of the financial media talking heads, I implore you to take a look at CXO Advisory Group’s “Guru Grades” … Continued
While there are a number of specific strategies that can be considered to be momentum investing, the simple definition can be summarized as, buying stocks that have been going up and selling/shorting stocks that have been going down on the assumption that the existing trend will continue. It’s a little like being famous for being … Continued
Recently, I had four client meetings on the same day. While four client meetings on the same day isn’t unusual, what was unusual was the main topic of all of the meetings. The first two clients were incredibly anxious about Joe Biden winning the Presidency and their stock portfolio crashing. The third and fourth meetings, … Continued
Apple’s recently announced a 4 for 1 stock split will present some issues for the Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DJIA) but not the S&P 500. The DJIA is weighted by the market price of the underlying 30 component companies. Currently, Apple accounts for about 10% of the DJIA. After the split, this will be reduced … Continued
That seems to be the view of Aaron Brown, writing for Bloomberg News, in an article titled “401(k) Plans No Longer Make Much Sense for Savers”. Susan Tompor, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press disagrees and has written an exceptional rebuttal titled, “Does a 401(k) plan still make sense for you? It might, or … Continued
It hardly requires a stretch of the imagination to consider the possibility that the 2020 presidential election will be accompanied by a degree of confusion. We are already witnessing the difficulties in quickly determining results for recent primary elections. Problems include; safely conducting in-person voting, recruiting polling location staff, timely delivery of absentee ballots, agreement … Continued
Investment decisions are largely based on expectations. Estimating future value is very difficult and inherently uncertain, which no amount of education and experience can fully overcome. Future values are sometimes based on anticipated innovations, historical performance, broader industry trends and many other factors. Even with careful analysis, not all investment opportunities lend themselves to high … Continued
We recently posted a blog titled “What is ESG” that attempts to explain the ideas behind socially responsible investing. ERISA (Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974) protects American’s retirement assets by implementing rules that qualified plans must follow to ensure that plan fiduciaries do not misuse plan assets. Many investors, understandably, want to do good … Continued
European governments, that already have some of the world’s highest tax rates, are under increasing pressure to raise additional revenues, and believe that American tech giants represent a potential “gold mine.” The route to increased revenues seems to be following several paths, including, new taxes designed to increase the EU’s share of U.S. tech company … Continued
Over the last several years we have posted a number of blogs relating to the importance of the “freedom of the seas”, most recently on (17May16) and (25Jan17). Despite the fact that approximately 80% of the world’s trade volume travels by sea, the international community has largely ignored China’s efforts to exert military control over … Continued
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