Well, if you were a math geek, you might be able to calculate the trajectory of these thrown objects and know exactly where you'd have to run in order to catch them in mid-flight.
Section Stocks
In the mid-1980s, I (vicariously) witnessed an investment lesson that has stuck with me. In 1985, I had taken a job as a petroleum engineer with a relatively small but aggressive oil and gas company. This company was publicly traded, and its stock was offered as an option in the company’s retirement plan.
It's not how aggressive or conservative you are - it's planning for risk that matters most. Want to see your retirement and investment accounts grow? Well, a portfolio's return is primarily driven by...
Saving Us from Our Own Bad Selves
There is a psychology to investing. If you had bought an S&P 500 index fund 30 years ago and somehow had not opened your statement until recently, you would have made two discoveries: Each dollar...
Professionals win points while amateurs simply beat themselves. The same applies to investing. In 1975, Charles Ellis wrote a wonderful paper titled "The Loser's Game." He observed how very...
Gold is the ultimate insurance policy to protect against the ongoing decline of the dollar. What's up with all of the schlock adds on TV exhorting you to buy gold? Where were they 10 years ago when...
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 **Say what you want about the current level of stock prices, but at 22 times earnings, stocks are anything but cheap. ** Never underestimate Wall Street's ability to shake...
**Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Written by Bo Billeaud For some people, money has that seawater effect - the more you drink, the thirstier you get. And in their quest for more, they often end up with...
**Wednesday, June 30, 2010 Written by Bo Billeaud If the growth rate of our economy does in fact slow going forward, the possibility of revaluing stocks (again) should not be ignored.** After enjoying...
A financial day of reckoning is just around the bend, and it will be painful, expensive and highly disruptive. Here in America, we used to take pride in claiming that we had a market-based,...
More information does not necessarily mean more knowledge. The world of investing has changed over the last 28 years. When I opened my first brokerage account, information was sparse. Monthly account...
Last November, America wanted change. I say be careful what you ask for. “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” —...
Stanford’s sales contests aren’t sitting well with investors — who are just now finding out about them. Recent news articles by BusinessWeek and other major media outlets highlighting egregious...
2009 is on pace to be a record-setting year for construction in Lafayette. Building permits and construction valuations are two important statistics LEDA tracks. Because these numbers are made...
We haven’t risen from the ashes yet, but hope springs eternal. After a historic 17-month bear market that witnessed a 57 percent decline in the S&P 500 index, stocks seem to have put in a bottom...
Living It Up at the Hotel California
When it comes to privately offered REITs, checking out at the price you see on paper may be hard to do. I recently looked at a very interesting investment security that allows an individual to own a...
Financial Surgeon General’s Warning: Following the advice of financial television shows may be hazardous to your wealth. On a recent evening, I was channel surfing when I happened upon a financial...
Economic Fitness Unless you slept under a rock for the last year, you know how awful 2008 was for the economy and the financial markets. With the S&P 500 index logging a 37 percent decline last...
This One Might Hurt A Bit As readers of this column might recall, over the last year or so I’ve written extensively on the topic of “peak oil.” Peak oil of course is the theory that the productive...
Our Own Bad Selves Recently in this column, I addressed the source of the financial disruptions now being experienced as yet another manifestation of the boom/bust psychology that has occurred...
A Seismic Financial Tsunami They’re dropping like flies. Bear Sterns. Indie Mac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch (saved by a Bank of America buyout) and finally Lehman Brothers. All gone as we...
Asset Allocation - Part 1 Of the major asset classes readily available, guess which one enjoyed the highest returns last year. If you guessed emerging markets, you’d be right. Emerging markets as a...
Those Evil Speculators It’s now quite stylish to blame speculators for the rise in oil prices. That sure lets everybody else off the hook, doesn’t it? Well, speculators may have a minor role on...
Peak Oil! Part II In a previous column titled “Peak Oil!”, I described the basis for the theory that states the limitations of the world’s ability to produce oil and bring it to market. There is still...
Is It Over? _Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. _ — from Shakespeare’s Hamlet What a mess. Have you paid any...
Inflation? We Don’t See No Stinkin’ Inflation! Economic data continues to point toward a rapidly slowing economy. At the same time, however, circumstantial evidence seems to be pointing to a...
Recession? Been there, done that? It’s been a tough six months for the financial markets. Since broaching essentially the same all-time high price levels both last July and October, the stock market...
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