(Posted July 11, 2016) We live in interesting times. When trying to make sense of the direction and level of the stock and bond market, there is one narrative that seems to fit best, and that revolves around the following central ideas: 1) The economy’s growth is highly dependent on the perception that we all…
Once your portfolio is properly positioned, sometimes it’s best to do nothing at all, despite the noise you may hear from the media about where stocks are going. Because, as I often like to say, “Stocks are a lot like soap. The more you touch it, the less you have.” Rainier Trinidad, CFASan Diego and Coronado’s…
(Posted June 11, 2016) It is often said that the markets climb a wall of worry. Here is the current wall I am climbing: 1. Earnings quality has deteriorated. The earnings that companies like to present to Wall Street often have a layer of lipstick on them to make them look better than they actually…
(Posted June 7, 2016) There have been a lot of calls recently for the market to go even higher, ranging from a) The Fed won’t raise interest rates this month because of the weak jobs number, b) Energy and Basic Materials companies are now bottoming and will have less worse earnings, c) the earnings recession is close…
I see this practically every week. I look at someone’s investment statements, and there they are: mutual funds with sales charges called “loads” just to get invested in them, and they often exceed 5%! When there are literally thousands of other mutual funds and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) available that could be acceptable substitutes that have…