A Few Dollars More

My regular readers know how much I despise 12b-1 fees. Those are the fees that mutual fund companies kickback to your broker or investment advisor for putting you into their funds. You never see the charge in your statements but it can be as much as one percent annually if you own a certain class of these funds called “C” shares. [Read more →]

Two years in the making, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is 2,319 pages long. It will cost upwards of $30 billion to implement and under the legislation, a minimum of 12 new government reports, 44 studies and more than 243 new rulemakings will be required. Depending upon your political philosophy, this financial reform package is either the best thing since the Declaration of Independence or a giant step toward socialism in the United States. [Read more →]

It was beautiful to behold. Stocks could do no wrong for seven straight days. The markets soared with the S&P 500 gaining 7% and the NASDAQ rising even more. That is until Friday. [Read more →]

It was a good week for investors as global markets bounced to the tune of 3-4% overall. Of course, don’t look for an underlying reason for such a big move. It was simply a technical exercise that one can normally expect after a prolonged decline. [Read more →]

You may have heard the term or even read the book “Black Swan” by Nassin Taleb sometime over the last few years. Most people mistakenly believe that a so-called “Black Swan Event” was all about the inability of Wall Street to manage risk leading up to the financial crisis of 2008 but that’s only partially true. [Read more →]

The stock market is down 10% over the last nine days from peak to trough. That kind of move can rattle investors and trigger a bearish psychology that can play havoc with your emotions. It’s time to keep this market in perspective. [Read more →]

The next time you run out of ideas for that perfect gift, save this column. I am about to give you over 200 one of a kind gift ideas that will cost you only as much as you want to spend and at the same time make anyone happy. Global Giving beats the heck out of giving your old man that gift set of Old Spice or your brother a gift card from Amazon. [Read more →]

One week up, the next down, with nary a profit to be found over the last two months. Unfortunately, I see more of the same ahead of us. The bottom won’t be in until investors throw in the towel. It will require fear, panic and a bit of loathing among global investors. Obviously, we have not reached that stage as of yet. [Read more →]

Newspapers around the world heralded the news that China was easing their currency peg. Global markets soared overnight Sunday and into Monday on the announcement. At last, crowed the pundits, the Chinese had caved into pressure from its trading partners to drop the two-year old Chinese practice of pegging the value of the Chinese Yuan to the rise and fall of the U.S. dollar. Yet, three days later it is hard to see what all the fuss is about.

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After the S&P 500 Index’s sharp 5% bounce, gains have been tougher to come by this week although the index still put together a 2% move higher. The bulls are loving that and expect even more upside in the coming week. [Read more →]