Last week, Congress approved about $1.9 Trillion dollars in additional fiscal stimulus funding, meant to provide greater distribution of COVID vaccines and testing, to increase the amount of unemployment assistance is available to workers, and to put money directly into the pockets of U.S. consumers. Much of the run-up in…
Looking at markets and the economy today, it’s remarkable how different things feel than they did one year ago. Hope surrounding widespread distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and piles of fiscal and monetary stimulus have many economists projecting some of the most significant growth in 2021 that we’ve seen in decades. …
Summary Market Review 2020 was a year of tremendous change and disruption. The year started with a SARS-like virus, first detected while spreading in China, being diagnosed in the US in January. February saw rapid movement in the virus taking hold, and featured political intrigue, with the impeachment of…
“Play craps.” That was the advice from my friend Lou. I’d just confessed to him my level of anxiety of being in the casino and not really knowing what I was doing at the tables. I knew the basics of Blackjack but I was no expert. I’d heard of newbies…
2020 Year in Review For at least six years now, Craig and I have been alternating the responsibility of writing up our “year in review.” Somehow, I drew the short straw, and got stuck with 2020. Just my luck. I get to review the year that everyone’s trying to blot…
If you’re not familiar with the term ‘FinTech’, you probably will be at some point soon. Financial technology (that’s what FinTech means) has progressed massively since the year 2000, and will likely continue to grow exponentially in capability and scope. Online banking, digital transactions, robo-advisors and cryptocurrencies are all significant…
Even if the Dow Jones Industrial Average is what people refer to when they talk about ‘the market’. The Standard and Poors 500 index has long been the ‘go-to’ measurement of the US stock market. More frequently on the ‘serious’ finance media, ‘the market’ that is referred to is the…
“Fun is like life insurance: The older you get, the more it costs”. Life insurance is contrastingly both easily understood and the object of much misunderstanding. The basic premise is simple: If you die and have a life insurance policy, the insurance company will give money to your survivors. Used…
James Bradley & Sam Chaplin discuss the current investment climate in the wake of the US Presidential election, Coronavirus and earnings season. You can watch the video above or read the commentary below. Market Review July kicked off the third quarter with a bang as stocks surged throughout much of…
Even though Municipal Bonds are an age-old part of boring fixed-income investing, they are exotic-sounding enough that I think they earn a blog post all their own. What are they? Like with most bonds, Munis are debt instruments. They are issued by (you guessed it) Municipalities, including states, cities, and…
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