Category: Uncategorized

Recessions are rare events. Since 1990, the US economy spent about 10% of the time in a recession and 90% of the time in a recovery or an expansion. Most of the time, investors don’t have to worry about it. About once every 10 years, however, we better watch out. Recessions trigger bad bear markets, Read More

Following the recent ascent of the Japanese stock market, one is reminded of the risk that a buy and hold strategy may not always prove successful.  As a teenager growing up in the late 1980s, it seemed all but certain that Japan was taking over the world. Japanese investors notably bought Rockefeller Center as well as the Read More

Summary  The BOXX ETF provides returns that closely track those of Treasury bills. Due to a quirk in the US tax code, BOXX ETF profits are taxed as capital gains, not investment income. That means that long-term holders of BOXX pay long-term capital gains rates which can be much lower than ordinary income tax rates. Read More

2023 has been a challenging year for investors thus far due to conflicting data surrounding the health of the US economy. Many expected a new bull market following the simultaneous bear market in stocks and bonds in 2022. However, the data underlying the year-to-date stock market advance tells a different story. Historically leading up to Read More

Over the past two decades, raising the US debt ceiling to borrow the funds necessary to pay for programs Congress has already approved and appropriated has become more politicized. The brinkmanship threatens the debt rating of the US Government and investors have taken notice. Two days ago, Fitch ratings placed US Government debt on negative Read More