It's hard to do nothing and harder to disconnect in a connected world. If you have children, you've probably heard them say: "I'm bored; there's nothing to do!" If you want to see how hard it is to do nothing, turn off everything around you and close your eyes for ten minutes. Welcome back. How'd...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average will top 36,000 at some point. It's not much of a forecast because the Dow is currently trading at 35,645, and it surpassed 36,000 only a few weeks ago. However, in 1999, authors James K. Glassman and Kevin A. Hassett projected the Dow would soar above 36,000, which...
Buy silver because inflation is coming and stocks will fall, a senior broker told me when I started my investment career some thirty years ago. The seasoned broker's office was impressive, lined with charts and graphs adorning his wood-paneled walls. He referenced his charts and educated me on why...
Vanguard recently surpassed $7.1 trillion in client assets, an enormous number. Vanguard was founded in 1975 during the oil embargo recession and grew by putting the interest of their clients first, a novel concept on Wall Street at the time.
Vanguard is named after the 18th-century battleship...
My family and I like to put together a puzzle or two during the holiday season. When my daughter was young, the puzzles were simple and easy to manage. As she grew older, they became more complex and took several days to finish. Obviously, a puzzle with twenty pieces is easier to handle than one...
I started my investment career in 1989 when the 30-Year US Treasury Bond yielded more than 8%. Investors were reluctant to buy bonds because they worried interest rates were going higher. They remembered the double-digit yields from 1979 to 1985; convinced interest rates would climb again, they kept...
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the giving season. Charities and non-profits will receive much-needed dollars to fund their good works, and the money they receive in the next few weeks will be the bulk of their annual budget because Individuals typically wait until the end of the year to give...
My first marathon was a total disaster. I finished the race exhausted, dehydrated, and sunburned. After years of running shorter races, I was ready to conquer the 1991 Los Angeles Marathon, and on race day, I thought I was prepared for the 26.2-mile journey. I was young, naïve, and in shape, and my...
The S&P 500 hit another record high yesterday, the 56th time it has done so this year.[1] With the stock market at all-time highs, what should you do? Will stocks fall now that they peaked? After all, if you climb a mountain and reach the top, your next move is to turn around and come down. Sir...
The Federal Reserve might raise interest rates next year. They last hiked interest rates in 2018, raising the fed funds rate four times from 1.50% to 2.50%. The relationship between bond prices and interest rates is like a see-saw in a park; when one side rises, the other side falls. If interest...
Few events in sports are more exciting than the home run. Kirk Gibson's spectacular home run to beat the Oakland A's in game 1 of the 1988 World Series is my all-time favorite. Carlton Fisk's energetic home run in the 1975 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds was incredible. Aaron Boone's home...
Are you rich? It depends, of course, on where you live. In Malawi, the per capita income is $357, Uganda $631, Haiti $766, United States $59,939, and Luxembourg $105,280.
According to the Pew Research Center, 70% of the world's population, about 5 billion people, live on less than $10 per day.[1...