Category: Invest Effectively

Invest Effectively

Mid-Term Elections – Historical Impact on Investors?

Last week Americans voted in the midterm elections, which yielded a ‘comeback’ for Democrats and a split legislature in Washington DC. The media weren’t sure what impact that would have on investors, with MSNBC publishing two articles (within hours of each other) stating that the likely government gridlock was both the BEST and WORST thing that could happen to Wall Street. A week later is … Continue reading Mid-Term Elections – Historical Impact on Investors?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation2 Comments
Invest Effectively, Uncategorized

Did You Play The Lottery This Week?

I didn’t buy a ticket for this week’s $1.7B MegaMillions lottery.  While I love the basic idea of getting a chance to be an instant billionaire, doing the math on the odds spoils the fun for me. While now commonplace, lotteries are certainly one of the most interesting social concepts of all. “Let’s have tens of millions of people put a small amount of money … Continue reading Did You Play The Lottery This Week?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation7 Comments
Invest Effectively

Time Yet For Gold?

We watched the movie “The Italian Job” a few nights ago. It’s the heist movie where Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, and company steal and re-steal $35 million in gold bars.  It got me thinking about the trend in gold prices since I last wrote this article almost 18 months ago: LINK – Gold: An Investment In Fear? Despite being considered an excellent hedge against inflation … Continue reading Time Yet For Gold?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation9 Comments
Invest Effectively

MegaCorp Stock – Trading on the Familiar

I met a friend of my wife’s at the garden center this past Monday morning who retired a few years ago after 30+ years at a local MegaCorp.  We were talking about the negative fortunes both our former employers have shown in their stock price.  Both companies have seen much better days – down 25-40% from their peak a few years ago. He knew a … Continue reading MegaCorp Stock – Trading on the Familiar

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation11 Comments
Invest Effectively

Who Owns The Stock Market?

Many people think of the stock markets as being owned by fat-cat rich people like Mr. Monopoly. I recently ran across an ARTICLE on Business Insider with a great chart showing how much ownership of the $25T US market has changed over the years. You can see there has been a significant democratization of US equities with a tremendous share of company ownership in employee … Continue reading Who Owns The Stock Market?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation2 Comments
Invest Effectively

Do You Want Guns In Your Portfolio?

My Sunday morning newspaper headline proclaims that “The Gun Debate Regains Sense of Crisis” and social media is filled with discussion – some thoughtful, some insipid – on what direction the country should take. One friend and MrFireStation reader is taking an interesting tack on driving the change he would like to see: eliminating any investments in his portfolio that include gun companies. Regardless of … Continue reading Do You Want Guns In Your Portfolio?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation20 Comments
Invest Effectively

Callan Periodic Table – Fascinating, But Useless?!

We had some new friends over for dinner on Saturday night and I, of course, got lots of questions about how we retired before we turned 50. The husband figured that I made some amazingly, lucky investment that paid out like we had won the lottery. He asked what our special investing strategy was and I told him I pretty much just invest in S&P … Continue reading Callan Periodic Table – Fascinating, But Useless?!

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation10 Comments
Invest Effectively

Dow at 25,000 – Time For A New Year’s Rebalancing?

Is it time to rebalance your early retirement portfolio?  With the Dow Jones breaking 25,000 this week (I remember when it broke 1,000!) – and after posting 37% growth since the 2016 Presidential Election – maybe it is time to look at your balance of stocks, bonds, and cash and ensure that you have not become overweighted in equities? The year 2017 was a great … Continue reading Dow at 25,000 – Time For A New Year’s Rebalancing?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation14 Comments
Invest Effectively

Too Many Eggs In One Basket?

  The stock market has been having a great year (+17% S&P500), but that hasn’t stopped me from fretting over the price of MegaCorp stock (-8%), as I continue to sit on significant stock options as part of our early retirement portfolio.  While many retirees may be celebrating the record market closes this week and ongoing ‘Trump Bump’, our portfolio is sitting FLAT for the … Continue reading Too Many Eggs In One Basket?

Unknown's avatarMrFireStation11 Comments