December 2017

These Are the Goods

Articles Twitter, Snap, Buzzfeed, and Pinterest are acquired. By Scott Galloway  Google revenue between 2004 and 2016 has increased from $3.2 billion to $89.5 billion, while print newspaper advertising fell over the same period from $44.4 billion to $12.9 billion By David Dayen Why do we worry about money even though we’re doing everything right?…

Animal Spirits: The Happiness Smile

Life’s Happiness Trough Our 2017 Favorites Books River of Doubt, By Candice Millard Destiny of the Republic, By Candice Millard Hero of the Empire, By Candice Millard The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire, By Stephen Kinzer Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood, By Michael Lewis Skunk Works,…

One Final Puff

There are half as many listed U.S. companies as there were twenty years ago, which is a topic that’s been widely covered this year. (Barron’s, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, MarketWatch). I thought this topic was pretty much beaten into the ground until came across an excellent piece from Vanguard. Small IPOs have crashed thanks to tighter…

These Are the Goods

Articles Stories lead to as much success as success leads to stories. By Morgan Housel At some point along the way the disappointments and hurt feelings from falling short of our youthful ideals begins to wane. By Tadas Viskanta Twelve Books Everyone in Finance Will Be Talking About in 2018. By Phil Huber There are…

How to Spot a Snake Oil Salesman

With the wild moves in bitcoin, the hucksters and charlatans are out in full force. Below are two headlines I came across in just the last 24 hours. Cryptocurrency fund of hedge funds launched for retail investors How to make $700,000 with Penny Cryptocoins The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has taken note of the…

Why Young Investors Should Hope For a Crash

Earlier this week I wrote about the potential different paths the market can take on a journey to the same final destination. Below is a chart which plots three different ways that $10,000 can compound at 2% a year for twenty years. Assuming you buy and you hold, the path won’t matter to the end…

Animal Spirits: Invest Like the Worst

GMO Quarterly Letter Experts on an earlier version of the world A Dismal Outlook Stockmarket in 1997 … apropos of nothing of coursehttps://t.co/lttBD4xmHK — Plan Maestro (@PlanMaestro) December 8, 2017 The Midnight Line Herbert Hoover in the White House Thanks for listening!  

What Time is It?

The best description of the late stages of a bull market comes from the great “Adam Smith’s” Supermoney: We are all at a wonderful ball where the champagne sparkles in every glass and soft laughter falls upon the summer air. We know, by the rules, that at some moment, the Black Horseman will come shattering through…

A Dismal Outlook

In GMOs most recent letter, Jeremy Grantham leads off the piece with, “At GMO these days we argue over three very different pathways to a similar dismal 20-year outlook for pension fund returns…A problem for investors following GMO’s writing is which of these three alternatives to choose” With this in mind, let’s take a look…

These Are the Goods

Articles You need to make sure your money is going to organizations that will make best use of your hard-earned money By Tadas Viskanta The more we have of it, it seems, the more money wears off. By Grant E. Donnelly and Michael Norton What’s in place now? What’s in the new plan? By Ron…