This week was chockfull of news for investors to digest. Tuesday’s State of the Union address gave us a hint as to what the president has in store on the economic front, and from what I can tell, we’re in for more of the same policies we’ve seen over the past three years. Then on […]

Tags: migrated

Click here to listen.

Tags: migrated

“Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.”   –Ronald Reagan   Last night’s State of the Union address was chock full of bromides, class warfare and protectionism. To me, it sounded much more like a campaign speech than a speech to inform the American people about where we stand as a nation. Although President

Tags: migrated

Apple’s blockbuster earnings announcement late yesterday showed that consumers still have a voracious appetite for the newest gadgets. To profit from that trend, consider buying Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK).   Thanks in large part to the sale of 37 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple today became the world’s largest company,

Tags: migrated

For the past three weeks, we’ve outlined the personal finance exercises that I want you to undertake for 2012. This week, we have Part IV of our series, which is all about expenses.   When it comes to expenses, many of us act like an ostrich and put our heads in the sand. That’s because […]

Tags: migrated

Today, we received word from the Federal Reserve that it’s going to be easy money at least until the end of 2014. The Fed flat-out stated that it isn’t likely to raise interest rates for about three years, and that’s much later than the central bank’s previous call for rates to remain at rock-bottom levels

Tags: migrated

We are three weeks into 2012, and so far, so good, for the equity markets. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 Index is up 4.59%. A big part of that gain was this week’s 2.04% jump in the broad measure of the domestic equity market. The Dow also had a very good week, up 2.40% since last […]

Tags: migrated

We all know that governments have issued a massive amount of debt. From Greece to Ireland, the United States to Japan, Detroit to Los Angeles, and California to New Jersey, all government entities have issued more debt in the last five years than in the previous 30 years. People often ask me what will happen […]

Tags: migrated

“There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle.” –Alexis de Tocqueville Men of principle are rare, and they are even rarer in politics. Keep this notion in mind when you make your choice for the next chief executive of the United States.   Wisdom about

Tags: migrated

Halfhearted optimism could be the phrase that best describes how investors are feeling, as we’ve seen a nice rally during the past two weeks of trading. With few, if any, of the major headwinds having been resolved yet, we also can expect the market to be susceptible to significant volatility in 2012. Fortunately for cautious

Tags: migrated