Tax Loss Harvesting
2020 has presented us with many challenges, but also some opportunities. A disciplined adherence to a good plan can pay long-term dividends at times like this that “try men’s souls.”[i] In case you missed it, earlier this year when Covid-19 hit, we experienced a...
The Home Stretch: Finishing strong
Financial Planning in the Time of Covid I can’t believe it is December already. In some ways, the year has flown past; in other ways, it seems like an eternity. Decades from now, we will be regaling the bored grandkids with tales of 2020, how we fought the raging...
Post-Election Monday
Hold the Presses!!! (just after 7 am EST) Pfizer just announced a vaccine that is 90% effective! Is this the beginning of the end, after we experienced the “end of the beginning” earlier? It just might be. In the words of Pfizer CEO: “Great day for science and for...
Closer than they thought
Well, wasn’t that special?[i] I have to confess I went to bed early on election night. Between the pandemic and this election, I have a serious case of fatigue going on. But this morning, before dawn, I got what some might consider good news. While results were...
Coming down to the wire
One more week until Election Day. After all we have been through this year, some of us are feeling kind of tired. What should we be thinking about? Are there things we ought to be considering related to the potential outcomes (e.g., changes in tax policy)? What are...
Déjà vu one more time…
This is getting to be a habit. Like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day[1], I keep waking up to what seems like the same situation, only different. There I was, happily preparing to tell you that the S&P 500 (and most of the other equity indices) just had the best...
Apple, Gold, the $ and Inflation
Apple’s stock price is up about 50% year-to-date, quite a remarkable achievement for the world’s largest company. In fact, it has more than doubled in one year! Last Thursday, after the market close, several of the big five (see below) announced big earnings...
China Update: July 2020
2020 is certainly going to be a year to remember. As Roseanne Roseannadanna famously said: “It’s always something. If it’s not one thing, it’s another!” I needed a good laugh this morning. Things in the world are looking pretty serious right now, even as capital...
Greater Capitalism
The second quarter was the best quarter for the S&P 500 since 1998, up more than 20%[1] since the end of March. Small caps were up more than that! Even bonds kicked in a few percentage points of return. Of course, after the terrible first quarter, this...
Profitability for Dummies
Once upon a time, there were two professors, a paper, a three-factor model, and ultimately a Nobel Prize. 1992 was a good year. The story was simple and powerful, the effects observable to the naked eye and remarkably persistent, if you could stand painful intervals...
