Institutional sophistication. Individual attention.
As of this writing, the Standard & Poor’s 500 is down over 45% from its peak 15 months ago; bond prices of esteemed corporate issuers indicate distress; and there is fear that the entire financial system is in peril. We have weathered
The best thing I can say about 2008 is that it is over. The second best thing I can say is that we were fairly defensive, and even though our results are disappointing in absolute terms, they are better than most broad-based
Over time, about 90% of the rate of return on one’s investments will be determined by the allocation among equities, bonds, and cash. Regardless of one’s luck or lack thereof in picking stocks, locking in yields, or choosing mutual funds, the vast
This morning as I was driving to a meeting I heard a radio talk show host lament about the general lack of service in most companies these days. More precisely, there seems to be a lack of desire to serve. The most
It is commendable that senior government officials candidly acknowledged the major role of flawed government policies in spawning today’s housing crisis. Treasury Secretary Paulson didn’t try to shift all of the blame elsewhere. Instead, he said with respect to the government rescue
Economics is often referred to as “the dismal science”, a term coined by historian Thomas Carlyle in the mid-18th century when the discipline focused on the world’s limited resources and their inability to keep up with mankind’s growing needs. A lighthearted smear
It is almost impossible to watch 30 minutes of television without seeing an ad for reverse mortgages. As seniors talk about their “favorite day” of home ownership and actor Robert Wagner extols the virtues of senior consumption, the spots present reverse mortgages
When dining at a restaurant, how would you feel if your waiter ate some of your food on its way from the kitchen? Upon closing on the purchase of a home, what would be your reaction if the appliances were removed and
One way to serve clients is to stop others from disserving them. In space dedicated to providing ideas to help you and your clients handle money better, immediate and very certain gains are sometimes most easily obtained by illuminating scams and needless
When a whirlwind takes out a major investment bank that survived the Great Depression, you know you are in a bad market. At the same time, it is a reasonable bet that the precipitous fall of Bear Stearns was the eye wall