The Retirement Field Guide

Seth Godin writes a daily blog and he recently wrote the following. (Apologies for basically quoting his entire post.) “An abundance of caution. Lawyers are fond of this. And sometimes, parents are too. At least you won’t get blamed if something goes wrong. It turns out that we don’t need an abundance of caution. We need appropriate caution. They’re different things. Abundant caution is wasted. Things like ripe avocados and… Read More

There is this pervasive idea in the financial advisor industry that everyone should be “optimizing” their financial strategies. This buzzword is marketed as hugely valuable such that every person should want it. It’s a differentiator for financial advisors and it encourages the feeling of FOMO if people somehow miss the boat. Once something goes completely mainstream, it’s my nature to question whether it’s all it’s cracked up to be. Mark… Read More

Over the past three years or so, I have written about 200,000 words or so on the topic of investing. As I cross into year four of this little site, I have noticed a disconnect that I believe causes investors to make more poor decisions than just about anything else. That is, the language we use. Maybe you have noticed that I almost never use the word “stocks” when I… Read More

In the movie “Soul”, they tell a story about a fish. A fish swims up to an older fish and says, “I’m trying to find this thing they call ‘the ocean’” “The ocean? the older fish says, “That’s what you’re in now.” “This?” says the young fish. “This is water. What I want is the ocean!” Admittedly, I am like this fish all the time. Always searching for what’s next…. Read More

The concept of “behavioral investment advice” is esoteric because, generally speaking, the only people who know the true value of what it can offer to investors are the advisors who have witnessed first hand the value of said advice. Generally speaking, people who believe advisors are a sham or are overpaid or whatever negative connotation they want to attach can’t accept a value proposition that seems completely intangible on the… Read More

In 2020, we ran a $3.7 Trillion deficit. That’s Trillion, with a capital T. Also in 2020, the inflation rate was estimated to be 0.62%. The current 10-year Treasury Note yield is 1.117%. What will happen in the decades to come is anyone’s guess. Will we end up with negative rates as so many countries have or will interest rates rise? Will inflation stay ultra-low or begin to creep up?… Read More

For the last 13 years, growth stocks have outperformed value stocks by a comfortable margin. Prior to that period, value stocks had outperformed for decades. With the shift in the tide toward the end of 2020 (when value finally outperformed again) the question begins to loom: “What should you own for what lies ahead?” The answer to that question is, “Yes.” There is no shortage of people who are willing… Read More

When you look around your local community, just about anyone who has made serious money is most likely a business owner. One of the great investors of our lifetime, Naval Ravikant, said the following: “Being an owner in a company basically means you own the upside. When you own debt, you own guaranteed revenue streams and you own the downside.” Investing in the public markets isn’t all that different. You… Read More

The irony of having investment experience is the acute awareness that humility is always right around the corner ready to remind us that we’re not as smart as we think we are. When throwing out predictions for what the market is going to do next, it is only a matter of time until humility finds us. While I have written before that pundits on TV have no career risk with… Read More