Archive for August 2020
Presidential Markets, Again.
Are you tired of hearing about the election yet? Just so you know, we have (as of today) 66 days to go. A few weeks back I wrote about presidents and the markets, but a lot of what I referenced spoke to overall presidential careers. I dug around Marketwatch.com and put together figures for each…
Read MoreYou Just Might Get A Raise After All
According to Kiplinger, “Inflation has been on a roller coaster in 2020. First, COVID-19 disruptions cratered prices for gasoline, travel, even car insurance. Summer rebounds in those commodities, as well as increases for in-demand items like used cars, meat and haircuts, have put the consumer price index back on a more normal trajectory, one that…
Read MoreA Record-Setting Week
It’s Wednesday morning and both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit new highs yesterday. As of now (11:52 a.m. in the east) both indexes are up again. When discussing the markets, which I end up doing many times each day, I keep getting the same questions and comments: Why does the market keep going up while the…
Read MoreHow To Get A Human On The Phone
In the last 10 years, companies have made it really obvious that they don’t want to spend time on the phone anymore. From my experience, there are two ways they make phone calls difficult: people and computers. With people, you waste your time endlessly repeating your details to operator after operator to narrow down the…
Read MorePrices Are Returning To Normal
You may recall previous stories in this newsletter about the skyrocketing cost of food as a result of COVID-19. The cost of eggs practically doubled, and shortages became commonplace. Well, good news! It appears that meat costs are finally coming down. From June to July, uncooked beef & veal dropped 8.2%. For larger cuts like…
Read MoreThe History Of The Remote Control
Late last week, Peter and I—for reasons I’ve forgotten now—got on the topic of remote controls. I’ve talked about it before in other articles, but my dad was a TV repairman back when a TV could actually be repaired. My formative years were spent around all types of old and broken electronics. I’ve seen all…
Read MoreExpect The Unexpected
When I talk to my clients, one of the things I hear most often is “We’ve never lived through anything like this before.” And that’s very true. 2020 has been an adventure to say the least. But I take that time to remind them that the world may be changing, but their retirement needs aren’t.…
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