Blog

With March comes basketball, green beer, and …. a banking crisis? During the first full week of March 2023, two significant California-based banks (Silvergate and SVB) closed their doors due to insolvency. While banks do sometimes fail, we have a mechanism for the protection of depositors’ money. Failures are generally (with the exception of the […]

Nothing is certain, except death and taxes. We’ve all heard that, we believe it, and many of us have a notion as to its origin. According to Quote Investigatorâ, the exact origin remains uncertain. Among the often-attributed authors are Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, and Daniel Defoe. In Washington, D.C., taxation is as polarizing as any […]

Back in 2020, we reported this observation: New and innovative financial scams constantly bombard Americans’ identities. The attacks seem to have no end. What next, you might ask? You probably shouldn’t be shocked, but you probably haven’t heard this one yet. The bad news is that it can affect your home, and the good news […]

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) became a headliner in newspapers throughout the media, financial and otherwise, in November of 2022, quickly attaining the status of a “Mini-Madoff” shyster. Like Bernie Madoff, SBF was formerly a well-known figure only in a smattering of households. Suddenly, a boatload of money disappeared virtually overnight, and SBF (the term brought to […]

Almost everyone has experienced some stress from incurring a significant unexpected expense, which is the reason financial planners advise clients to establish and maintain a significant Cash Reserve, even before attempting to fund long-term goals. “Running out of money before running out of month” is a common problem, articulated by far too many Americans. Whether […]

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are similar to Mutual Funds, which should surprise no one who realizes that one business grew out of the other. Each begins as a collection (pool) of financial assets, typically stocks, and bonds. Once assets are in position, differences begin to take shape. While traditional Mutual Funds have been in existence for […]

Mutual funds, for all their contributions to wealth creation, have inherent drawbacks. Internal expenses are relatively large, and tax complications arise from the Tax Code’s treatment of dividends and capital gains within mutual funds. Trades are performed only after regular Stock Exchange hours, and all trades are to and from the Fund Company itself. Recognizing […]

Last week, we began a discussion of possible reactions to recent substantial increases in interest rates. The Federal Reserve (FED) has been pumping up rates in a quest to stifle rampant inflation, which (ironically) was not caused by low-interest rates. Any time substantial interest rate changes occur, there will be economic winners and losers, depending […]

For many years, Americans have experienced an unprecedentedly low-interest rate environment. Winners during this period included nearly all borrowers, as mortgages and other financing instruments were essentially on sale. Interest rate increases imposed by the Federal Reserve (FED) over the past year have been “in your face,” both numerous and substantial. Borrowers with variable-rate loans, […]