“There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” -Thomas Sowell “Goldilocks went upstairs. She lay down on the big bed and said, 'This bed is too hard!' She lay on the medium bed and said, 'This bed is too soft!' She lay down on the small bed and said, 'This bed...

These are times that make investing scary. Investors begin to question whether stocks will ever stop going lower. They fear that inflation is back and therefore corporate profits will evaporate. One half of the population fears the President and his policies. The...

Thoughts on Today’s Selloff The S&P 500® Index (“SPX”) was down over 4% at the lows today. This follows a day that saw stocks rally by 3%. To be sure, these are extreme levels of volatility, but I am more amazed by the hysteria whipped up in the business media....

Expect stocks to trough when fear peaks. Conversely, expect stocks to peak when fear troughs. This axiom speaks to why successful investing in stocks is difficult. It runs contrary to our instincts as humans. We are wired to raise our defenses under a threat of danger...

While U.S. financial markets took a rest today, in honor of President’s Day, the tensions on the border between Ukraine and Russia heated up to a boil. Stock futures are down by more than five hundred points while money is flowing into the safety provided by gold and...

As January comes to an end, stocks continue to act volatile. On Monday of this week, the S&P 500 put in a near-term low just above the 4,200 level before rallying to just above 4,400 on Wednesday. The 2-day rally happened ahead of the conclusion to the Federal...

There is a stock market adage that goes something like this, “As goes January, so goes the year.” Well, stock market adages are born from experience and die from anticipation. In other words, once an adage gets some notoriety, it tends to shift or fade away as the...

Historically, stocks perform well during the shortened Thanksgiving week. Furthermore, the best day of the shortened week is the abbreviated trading session on the Friday following Thanksgiving Thursday. Well, Mr. Market, as he frequently does, has decided to keep...

Despite an impressive rally in stocks in the final 45 minutes of trading Monday, the S&P 500 Index ended down by 1.7%,  unable to recover fully from the 3% decline reached earlier in the day. Volatility, as measured by the VIX, increased by over 25%. The weakness...

Re-opening the Economy: “Back to the Future” For those who never saw the movie, “Back to the Future” is about a kid who gets sent back in time and encounters his parents when they are in high school. After several mishaps, he finds a way to make it “Back to the...