Investment Planning

The presidential election is less than forty days away, and investors are getting nervous.

Dave Johnson is known for this call, "And down the stretch they come!" Mr. Johnson has been calling horse races since the early 1970s, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. There are few things more exciting in sports than watching horses make the final turn towards the finish line – the stretch run.

Exxon Mobil is leaving the Dow Jones Industrial Average after 92 years. They joined the Dow in 1928, and it's considered one of the bluest of blue chips – a stock to own forever. Salesforce will take its spot. It's not the first perennial holding to be substituted by a newer, swankier company. Walgreen's replaced General Electric in 2018 after a 112-year run and Apple supplanted AT&T in 2015 after 99 years.

Tesla and Apple are splitting their shares, sending their stock prices higher. Wall Street, Twitter, and CNBC spent the last week or so commenting on the benefits of a split. What does it mean when a company decides to split its stock? Nothing.

Shares of Kodak soared more than 2,700% from July 27 to July 30. If you had a crystal ball or insider information, you could have turned $100,000 into $2.7 million as the stock rose from $2.13 to $60. The average trading volume for Kodak (KODK) for the past five years has been 481,000 shares. Two days before shares of Kodak climbed sharply, 284 million shares changed hands.

The NASDAQ is soaring this year despite the political turmoil, racial tensions, and a global pandemic. It has risen 18% so far, and it's not showing any signs of slowing down as it climbs a wall of worry. A few media outlets and financial experts are referring to the rise as a bubble.

A high-profile internet celebrity is leading a legion of day-traders with his antics.

Growing up in Southern California, fruit trees were everywhere. It seemed like orange, lemon, and avocado trees were on every corner. My backyard had two huge trees – one orange and one lemon that repeatedly produced fruit. My grandfather owned a citrus ranch with thousands of trees.