I had a birthday during the week of the recent presidential election, so as an indulgence, I started writing this post to express my personal view on the election results. It was a bit of a whirlwind, with all but a handful of races decided within a day or two. Full disclosure: I voted for […]
This time of year, we all shift gears in many ways, marking the end of Summer with Labor Day weekend. We move from vacations back to work. Those of you with kids at home have also begun the process of getting everyone ready for a new school year. That first week of school is an […]
I love to plan. I’m sure it has something to do with control, but to me it feels more like a combination of power and pleasure: looking at an array of choices, choosing what suits best, then making it happen. Recently I had an epic planning failure. OUTBOUND I sat on a plane for four […]
Advisors absolutely do not have a crystal ball, so this post isn’t going to tell you what hot stock to buy or whether Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce will stay together. But there are a handful of themes that will play out over the course of the year, and those are important to understand. In […]
If your house is like mine, you have been swept up in the swirl of added activities surrounding the holidays. Yet there are a few other things I would encourage you to add to your year-end list, even if that list is already as long as your arm. Some are directly financial, and others indirect. […]
Just as we have adjusted to everyday life with a global virus, and worked through waves of Delta, Omicron and BA2, BA4, BA5, our financial lives are beset with old fears about inflation, recession and financial market declines. We knew that we would not be able to just flip a switch and turn the post-pandemic […]
Holidays like Halloween may have pagan roots in harvest festivals as well as in the Christian tradition to honor the dead. Today, that history has morphed into Fall symbols like pumpkins, shafts of wheat and bonfires, and the ghoulish and gory like skeletons, ghosts and the undead. The holiday fits in today’s gender-fluid world, with […]
This month’s intended topic was taxes. We know that the best laid plans will hit one obstacle or another along the way. But having a plan – and sticking to it – is one of the best countermeasures to uncertainty. And so this week began with an escalating crisis in eastern Europe. With a 24-hour […]
Most of us start a New Year with resolutions: lose weight, exercise more, get organized financially. According to credit bureau Experian, almost 50% of Americans want to save more in the next year – even though for many personal savings soared since Covid-19 hit the US in March 2020. Among New Year goals, more than […]
Stock market watchers often talk about whether “this time it’s different”: Does this bull market reflect the same conditions as the last one? Is this downturn different from the one just before the last recession? This time, is it different? Almost always, circumstances might be different, but business cycles are more or less the same. […]