As of September 16th, 2020, the Bankrate weekly mortgage rate survey has once again touched all-time lows with the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage sitting at 3.09% and the average 15-year fixed rate mortgage coming in at 2.53%. For homeowners who have a mortgage, many have already taken advantage of falling interest rates by refinancing … Continued
This is the title and first line of a Merle Haggard song. The second line is, “Everything’s gonna be all right I know”. Thinking about the message in the song, which was written in 1973, and looking at where we are now, provides some food for thought. By the end of December 2020, the election … Continued
We can probably all agree that Covid-19 is bad, causing unacceptable death rates, hospitalizations and economic pain. How bad? Commentators have sought to find comparable events in an effort to measure the potential long term impact of the pandemic. While this is of obvious importance to investors, definitive answers are hard to find. Most observers … Continued
Almost immediately after the Covid-19 induced March collapse in stock markets and the economy, the usual pundits began to speculate on the timing and shape of a possible recovery. The most optimistic were talking about a V shaped rebound with a rapid and broad recovery to pre Covid-19 levels. A more cautious group were contemplating … Continued
The U.S. economy appears to be bifurcating at an unprecedented rate. Unemployment, particularly in the service, retail, live entertainment, hospitality and other sectors is epidemic, while many professionals, able to work at home, are maintaining their income, enjoying a lower cost of living, and for some, significant gains in their corporate stock plans. Pandemic driven … Continued
Investopedia defines the rule of 72 as a quick, useful formula that is popularly used to estimate the number of years required to double the invested money at a given annual rate of return. Of course, there are calculators and spreadsheet programs that can accurately calculate the precise time required to double invested money to … Continued
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
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
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
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