Tuesday, May 7, 2024
To help hold down fuel and energy prices, the Biden administration has been selling oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), to the tune of three million barrels per week since the start of the year. Now, with the SPR at its lowest level since the 1980s, the administration’s plan to refill the reserve […]
With interest rates rising, your cash holdings could now earn you some interest income. Again, they could—but they may not be doing so. Many financial institutions are not passing along higher interest to customers holding cash. You should check to see how much your money earns, and if it’s a pittance, look at some alternatives. […]
This year is on pace to be the worst in history for the standard 401k investment strategy. A balanced portfolio of stock and bond index funds has performed terribly in 2022. Workers who get their third-quarter 401k statements will be shocked. Today, let’s discuss why this happened and how to do better… The traditional 60/40 […]
With the stock market tumbling, investors are on the hunt for safer investments that pay attractive returns. The fact that you can earn 9.62% from a U.S. Savings Bond is getting a lot of buzz. Today, let’s review the features, pros, and cons of investing in these Series I Savings Bonds. The U.S. government sells […]
Bear markets in the stock market, like the one we’re in right now, produce severe stock price dislocations. In other words, stocks get so cheap, you can pick up shares for pennies to realize fantastic gains when the bull market returns. What you want to do is find profitable companies where those profits are not […]
Energy commodity markets have been focused on demand issues lately, but last week, OPEC announced a production cut, putting supply back in the spotlight. This cut in oil production will result in higher energy prices. That’s going to be a change from the past several months, where gasoline prices, for example, have been falling. As […]
You may have heard the saying, often (mis-)attributed to Mark Twain, that history does not repeat, but sometimes it rhymes. Well, I just saw a table of historical returns that shows how some historical rhyming will benefit our stock portfolios. Let’s take a look… This table comes from Charlie Bilello, founder and CEO of Compound […]
Net lease REITs own stand-alone properties leased to tenants on long-term, triple net leases—meaning the tenant pays all the expenses for the property, including taxes, insurance, and maintenance, and the property owner does not have to deal with the rising costs associated with these expenses. Typically, net lease contracts are long-term, with built-in rent escalators. […]
The U.S. stock market dropped sharply In September, and the major stock indexes re-entered bear market territory. In this type of market, it’s easy for investors to give in to their fears and sell at the worst possible time. A review of the history of bear markets makes it easier to keep to your strategy […]
With inflation running rampant, the Federal Reserve is responding by ratcheting up interest rates. The result is that mortgage rates have more than doubled over the last year. Higher rates have pushed many potential buyers who could have afforded to buy in 2021 out of the market in 2022. For a $300,000 mortgage, a buyer […]
