If you want to sell shares, figuring out how much tax you owe on the proceeds can be vexing. This is typically a special problem for people, or their heirs, who held the stock certificates rather than leave them with a broker. Here’s my syndicated article that discusses some insights into the sometimes troublesome tax […]
The market (Dow) closed today (Friday the 25th of January) at 13,895.98 near the market peak of 14,164.53 on October 9th 2007. This means the Dow is now within 268.55 points of that record high (or under 2% within the record … certainly within reach of going over the record). Emotionally, this appears to be cause for […]
You often hear this statement made as if it were a matter of fact. Sometimes you hear the opposite statement. Are either true? Not really. Supply and demand is balanced by price … price is set by a willing seller and a willing buyer. The number of buyers and sellers is not really a factor … what price […]
Dividends appear to be easy to focus on because their returns are expressed in yield, which we translate to an interest rate in our brains. People compare this “interest rate” to returns from stocks, or to CDs, savings accounts, etc., in order to make a selection as to which one they prefer … of course they gravitate towards the higher […]
Sovereign debt is debt issued by countries, not companies (which is commercial debt sometimes called private). Currently, most people list Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIGS) as countries with problems. The graphic from The Economist “Indulging the NULJ” shows that the US is among countries that will be in this boat on the current budget […]
Whenever prices rise (or fall) a lot, it is popular to find a “faceless crowd” to place that blame onto … “it must be somebody’s fault … and it’s ‘them’ … “ In economics it is probably better explained through the “invisible hand” of supply and demand. Milton Friedman’s explanation of how speculators affect markets […]
Short answer … No. The key during the early years are your contributions. (See the Dark Blue line). You need to plant the seeds that can then grow later. I show below how it took 13 years for returns to overcome the power of contributions. And of course, you control contributions while your control over […]
Risk and Return. Let us imagine the markets like highway driving. All lanes go to the same place. It’s just a matter of how fast, or slow, you want to go to get there. Faster lanes arrive sooner, but have a higher risk that something happens and you end up getting there later than a […]
