A decade ago I probably would have said that there is little value to a small business adviser in attempting macroeconomic and political forecasts. But over this most recent decade I’ve watched shifting macroeconomic conditions wipe out over two million dollars of personal net worth and put one of my businesses into idle for over […]
Update: This article was updated to reflect the news that for or the 90 days of fall (9/21 – 12/21) the S&P 500 was down 17.5%. The market correction happened sooner than I expected. The advice I’ve dispensed for the past 30 years since leaving my early career on Wall Street is timeless, except for […]
Bitcoin has lost 80% of its value since I wrote this pessimistic prediction “Turned Sour on Bitcoin” a year ago. Last week the cyber currency market dropped $700 Billion. Of course this does not happen in a bubble. The overall stock market appears to have peaked and may be entering an extended bear market. Real estate […]
Over the past few days I’ve spent time communicating with other financial writers online and skimming published articles on the topic of tax-free investments. In a world where most topics, especially most investment topics, are covered redundantly, it is surprising to learn that this topic has holes in media coverage and that much of the […]
I’m convinced that most people don’t know about vast array of alternative investment options available to them including through tax-advantaged individual retirement accounts. Consider the broad environment of alternative investments that we face today: We’ve been brainwashed1 to think that alternative investments are not safe while investments in the US securities markets are safer. Financial […]
The two big personal stories for me in 2017: #1 – Stress Handled I became stressed by the lack of respect for fact, truth, science, logic, law and education expressed in our everyday lives. I became stressed by the observation that other people abandoned traditional core values of charity, sharing, open doors, open borders, nondiscrimination, […]
As great as this tax bill is for CPAs who offer tax planning services, it is just as bad for investment advisers. Here’s why: RIAs do not benefit from the 20% deduction of pass-through entity income. RIAs tend to have high state, local and property taxes. Limiting this deduction, along with elimination of the personal […]
Most of us in the financial services or advisory professions are generally aware of the impact of the “Fiduciary Rule”. But few, including myself, has any in-depth understanding of the scope of its impact. This well-written explanation of the fiduciary rule comes from a training material for financial service professionals. I added the emphasis. “In […]
list of cautionary considerations about limited partnership investments
Americans have been clear and consistent in their opinions that corporations and wealthy people do not pay their fair share of the tax burden. We’ve known and accepted this as reality for most of our lives with little or no government action to make the system more fair. This public opinion has been largely unaffected by […]