Last Tuesday, January 17th is one of my favorite days of the year. See, in business circles the day after Martin Luther King day is unofficially known as "get your butt back to work day."
I mean, by the 3rd week of January, even the most ambitious of Holiday vacationers are back in the saddle, with their goals more or less set, and are beginning to re-focus their mental laser beams on personal and professional priorities.
I'm not allergic to paper assets. To my mind there is nothing inherently evil about them - they serve a purpose, and when bought at the right price for the long term can provide very decent (even excellent) returns on investment. Ask Warren Buffet.
This Thanksgiving holiday, it’s very important that we take a moment to really think about how lucky we are to live in America.
It’s not that it’s a perfect country, because it isn’t. There are many imperfections we can point to and many divisions between us. And honestly, too many people are struggling to make ends meet.
It’s now just over a week after the election and uncertainty still hangs in the air. But for real estate investors, that might actually be a good thing…
Here’s where we are right now: the stock market is in record territory since Trump’s electoral victory. And yes, Trump’s stated policies of tax reform, trade agreement restructuring and infrastructure investment all bode well for the stock market and the American economy.
If Donald Trump’s election victory teaches us anything, it reminds us that there’s nothing less secure than a “sure thing.”
Just ask Hillary Clinton.
But now investors are asking themselves, “How will a Trump presidency impact my portfolio?”
For investors around the world, the relative calm of the seven-year bull market is over. In the past several months, the markets have transitioned into a what can realistically be called “a new and extended period of volatility.” We’re not talking about an adjustment period of quarter or two, either. Going forward, volatile is the ‘new normal.’
Can you believe it's November 19th already?! Where has the year gone? Mid-November means some very important stuff is right around the corner.... turkey, Santa, and my personal favorite : assessing your investment portfolio's performance this past year. When it comes to the latter, zeroing in on "how you did" is a tricky matter...
...We listened to presentations from a star-studded faculty, including controversial Fund Manager and Economist Peter Schiff, Motivational Speaker Tommy Hopkins, and International Man of Mystery Simon Black. Their prevailing message was basically this: don’t sit on your laurels assuming that the economic supremacy America enjoys today will last forever.
2008 Was An Appetizer. The American national debt is now over $17 trillion dollars. The housing crash and resulting crisis of 2008 was just a preamble to the chaos that will ensure when the government can no longer pay its bills. It's not "if," but "when" it will crash.
Most investors compare the performance of their financial advisor to the performance of common indices, such as the S&P 500. If their portfolio has outperformed the index, they can then feel a sense of confidence. They have "beat the market." Why does this benchmark mentality exist and at what does it cost the investor.
Let’s cut right to the chase. You can use your, retirement accounts to own real estate (and other real assets), and you probably should!
Investors often ask this question and the answer is “No.” REITs can be traded directly on exchanges, as can the numerous mutual funds which own REITs. You can’t list your vacation home on NASDAQ tomorrow morning. Nor could you stay at the exchange next weekend for a quiet getaway. The obvious point: why would you even want to?
Let's face it, when our portfolios are skyrocketing every time we log in to check the balance, that little voice in our heads says "leave it alone, you're doing great!" This is known as the "wealth effect", which states that we all "feel" richer when we see our paper assets going up.