April 2019

These Are the Goods

Articles It’s easy to come up with a story for how you earned your wealth after you earned it By Nick Maggiulli I offer up some of the things that I could have done a better job with in my financial life By Christine Benz Advantage is only an advantage if others don’t have the…

These Rallies Aren’t Holding

It’s Friday December 21, and the S&P 500 had just finished lower than its open for the tenth straight day. The index was 17.54% off its closing highs, and we already lost our generals: Apple and Amazon were each down more than 30%, Netflix and Facebook were each down more than 40%. It felt like…

Are Annuities Really So Terrible?

A friend of mine was pitched a variable annuity. He sent it over to me to take a look. Before I get into the details of this product, I want to make clear two things: I am not an expert in this field, and there are more annuities than there are hedge funds. They all…

Being Wrong and Changing Your Mind

“He had very few doubts, and when the facts contradicted his views on life, he shut his eyes in disapproval.” -Hermann Hesse I was wrong. I took action, or in this case inaction, that hurt somebody close to me. It wasn’t a conscious decision I made, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that I behaved…

Animal Spirits: The Re-Readables

Mention Animal Spirits to receive 20% off (*New YCharts users only) Stories Discussed Is inflation dead? Ben’s take via William Bernstein Dave Ramsey is huge Buffett talking to students Elizabeth Warren calls for student loan forgiveness Steve Schwarzman had an out-of-body experience Reverse mortgages Listen here Recommendations Destiny and Power Alpha Girls Charts  Tweets 1/ There is…

QOTD: Outgrow Your Mentors

Ted Seides recently sat down with David Zorub to chat about all things investing. One of the things David said really resonated with me: At some point as you go through your career you’ll outgrow your mentors and that’s okay. You have to seek new ones. This is a fantastic observation. There’s nothing wrong with…

The Worst Week Ever

It was a good run. In the five years leading up to the worst week ever, the NASDAQ Composite gained 445%, compounding at 40% a year. For some stocks it was even better. Cisco, Qualcomm and others made the index look like a snail. But then, in just one week, it all came crashing down….

How to Stay Out of Debt

In 1999, a young person asked Warren Buffett: I was wondering, since the stock market’s so high right now, if it would be smart for us to get involved now or to wait until it goes down a little. Here are some of the things he said. First save money. Then worry about which stocks…

Why Didn’t You…

Why didn’t you take out a margin loan? Why didn’t you borrow money from somebody? Why didn’t you plan ahead? These are a few of the comments I received about my post from last week. Back tests don’t ask these sort of questions, which is why I felt compelled to share my story. Check out…