Who would have thought the Republicans would decisively clean-sweep the White House, Senate, and House in this week’s election? Certainly not the media pundits or the political pollsters. Once again, the “experts” were wrong. Most voters clearly didn’t believe that Biden was “sharp as ever”, Harris was a “new path forward”, or Trump was “Hitler” – no matter how many times they told us that. … Continue reading Betting Election Night
With tomorrow being Election Day, what’s your likely exposure to a new administration in Washington DC in January? I know we all have our favorites and we are often breathlessly told that “it is the most important election of our lifetimes!” Still, I’m struggling to think how my wife & I will be directly impacted by any of the changes that have been discussed. Please … Continue reading Election Impacts?
A friend of mine was surprised when I shared this table adjusting the return of 401k balances for inflation over the last 4 years. It shows that despite the relative strength in the stock market, real returns for 401k balances are DOWN about 9%. “That’s not right!” he said – “the S&P 500 is an an all-time high. It’s up almost 50% since the … Continue reading 401k Returns – Not As Good As You Think
Short post today. Really Target? Toothpaste? Images: (c) MrFireStation.com; Target, St. Paul MN Continue reading The Joy Of Shopping
On Mondays, I generally take my Mom grocery shopping and sometimes add on a field trip. When it comes to groceries, she prefers the ‘premium’ grocery store in our area – Lunds & Byerlys. They have a terrific, but pricey selection of foods – with wonderful produce, an amazing bakery, and carpeted aisles. It really is a pleasure to shop there – quiet, not crowded, … Continue reading Enjoy Your Self – Grocery Shopping Splurge
I recently Googled the term ‘early retirement’ to see how the media is chattering about this topic. Since I’ve been boring readers with this topic for more than 9 years, I felt I had a responsibility to keep up-to-date with how early retirement is being discussed in the media. As usual, the headlines were confusing and at odds with each other: “My Dad Sacrificed Everything … Continue reading Early Retirement: Searching For Answers?
The news has been full of economic policy proposals from our two major candidates. I’ll tell you that I’ve been reading them with interest, but cannot make sense out of either of them. They are both promising big economic windfalls to their favored protected classes and paying very little attention to the country’s current $35T debt (123% of GDP, up from just 56% in 2000). … Continue reading Confusing Candidates
The so-called, “Trump Tax Cuts” from 2017 are in the news as Democrats argue that they benefited only the richest Americans. This recent chart from the Tax Foundation shows that in the 4 years following the 2017 tax law change, the wealthiest households paid a greater share of Federal taxes. Their share went from below 40% to over 45% – about an 600bps increase. This … Continue reading Trump Tax Cuts
If there was ever an industry that I thought would benefit from the internet, it’s real estate. These are data-heavy purchases that people want to really research before making a decision. Still, we’ve bought and sold a few different properties over the last few years and it’s difficult to get a good sense of how to price a property without talking to an agent. We … Continue reading Online Real Estate Estimates
I see a lot of headlines in the news lately touting how high the stock market has gone. It is true that the S&P 500 has reached a new Apex – up +19% YTD to almost 5,600. At the same time, few in the mainstream media are noting that the bond market has tumbled markedly in the last two years (down -16%). Compared with equities, … Continue reading A Tale of Two Markets
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