Blog Archives

Not All Bubbles Are Created Equally

Bubbles

With the subprime-induced global financial meltdown of 2008 and 2009, along with the dotcom implosion in the early 2000s resulting in the NASDAQ dropping by approximately 80%, it’s not surprising that most investors are constantly on guard against the bursting of bubbles and crashes ensuing. If one takes a step back,

Read more ›



Best Advice You'll Ever Read - Keys to a Fulfilling Life

Best Advice Philosophical Investor

With this being a Labor Day week I thought I would take it a little easier and outsource this week’s investment wisdom to a Wall Street legend, Byron Wien. He put together some of the most important lessons of his first 80 years and they represent some of the best advice I have ever read.

Read more ›



Ben Bernanke Can't Refinance - Mortgage Credit Market Too Tight?

Is Mortgage Credit Too Tight – Ask Ben Bernanke

I must admit that I found it quite interesting (and entertaining) to read that Ben Bernanke could not refinance his house in Washington D.C. According to the article,

Bernanke already has refinanced twice. When the former Fed chair and his wife Anna bought their Capitol Hill rowhouse in May 2004,

Read more ›



How Could The New Tax Laws Impact Housing?

Tax Housing

I typically wouldn’t discuss Tax Reform until it has passed since it would usually be speculative, I am making an exception given that many of the parameters are known and because of its potential impact on housing. The basis of the plan was to cut the corporate tax rate first and then work around the constraints that Senate rules and supposed deficit hawks impose on the process.

Read more ›



Insurance and Questionable Models Managing Risk

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”

― Flannery O’Connor

This blog post is pretty much just for me as insurance is not a very exciting topic but has great importance to all property owners,

Read more ›



Mind the Gap - Are We Our Own Worst Enemies?

mind the gap

International travel calls so this blog will be on the shorter side. It is fairly well known from research and the school of hard knocks that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to investing. Our emotions, particularly fear and greed, often lead us to buy towards the top and sell when it is closer to a bottom.

Read more ›



A Dose of Reality - Are Things As Bad As They Look?

Reality

Maybe it’s because we just had a Friday the 13th or because my home was one of the houses that had to be evacuated in the recent Orange County fires (fortunately it was not damaged) or perhaps because I recently saw an ex-CIA lawyer and analyst speaking about how successful the Russians were in subverting our democracy during the 2016 elections and how at risk we are to cyber attacks from Russia,

Read more ›



The B.I.S. vs. Japan - Increase In Global Interest Rates?

Japan Global Interest Increase

A few weeks ago I wrote about a B.I.S. report that hypothesized that global interest rates would rise over the next few decades as global demographics shift from a labor supply shock to a shortage as labor forces shrink in many developed countries.

Read more ›



Houston - We Have A Problem!

Harvey-Hurricane-Harvey

With the extraordinary events that took place in Houston, southeast Texas, and Louisiana as a result of Hurricane Harvey I felt that it was much more relevant to discuss this catastrophe versus part two of demographics and interest rates emphasizing Japan.

Houston: Hurricane Harvey

An estimated 27 trillion gallons of water has blanketed southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana.

Read more ›



1985 - My Year of Living Adventurously

1985 London

In 1985 I was in the United Kingdom for three months and I distinctly remember benefiting from the strengthening dollar against the weakening pound similar to what we are seeing now. The British pound has depreciated in the wake of the Brexit vote to levels not seen since 1985,

Read more ›



Categories

Free Insights