Category: Weekly Investment Update

Rule Number 1 A frequently repeated piece of advice from Warren Buffett is, “Rule Number 1: Never lose money. Rule Number 2: Never forget Rule Number 1.” As simple and useless as this piece of advice sounds, it points out an important money management and personal management starting point for every investor. It directs attention […]

From Warren Buffett’s Letter to Shareholders in 2010: Throughout my lifetime, politicians and pundits have constantly moaned about terrifying problems facing America. Yet our citizens now live an astonishing six times better than when I was born. The prophets of doom have overlooked the all-important factor that is certain: Human potential is far from exhausted, […]

Wall Street analysts and media are rightfully criticized for putting too much emphasis on quarterly earnings. What investors want is for managements to build the value of their businesses over time. One quarter’s results are seldom make-or-break events. Earnings, however, are what ultimately determine stock prices so without putting too much emphasis on a single […]

Accumulating wealth for retirement involves more than investment returns. Much of one’s good work in this area can be lost if the account owner does not understand rules for retirement accounts spelled out in the tax code. The penalties are steep. Chris English begins an explanation of these concerns in his piece, Q & A […]

BTN Research recently pointed out the worst day for the S&P 500 last year generated a loss of 3.6% which was a greater loss than the worst year for the bond market at any time over the last 40 years (1977 -2016). That statistic points out the usefulness of an allocation to fixed income categories […]

The market predictions for 2017 are out. One of our resolutions for each year should be to remind ourselves to take these exciting forecasts with a grain of salt. For an example of the lack of value in these calendar year predictions, one need look back just eight years to the beginning of 2008. The […]

The first four trading days of January got the market off to a good start for the year and the January Barometer followers are again touting the success of their indicator. Proponents claim since 1950, the direction of the market for the year has been predicted by the direction of the market during the month […]

When the Federal Estate Tax exemption amount rose above the old $600,000 per person level (the 2017 exemption amount will be $5.49 million per person), many individuals erroneously decided revocable trusts were no longer necessary in their estate plans. There are many reasons not related to estate taxes for considering a revocable living trust in […]

In the interesting but useless facts category, we have the following: “Santa Claus tends to come to Wall Street nearly every year, bringing a short, sweet, respectable rally within the last five days of the year and the first two in January. This has been good for an average 1.4% gain since 1969 (1.4% since […]

One of the financial writers I follow began his Wednesday afternoon post with the headline, “The Fed didn’t tighten today”. Scott Grannis, retired economist and financial professional, summarized current interest rates and the Fed’s long awaited rate decision better than I can: The Fed increased its target short-term interest rate today to 0.75%, but that […]