I was in a panic. I was living off the interest from our Certificates of Deposit (CDs). The government passed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and interest rates tanked. My world went topsy-turvy as the banks redeemed my CDs. The new, lower rates won’t pay the bills. Not even close! Isn’t high inflation caused by increasing the currency supply […]
» Read moreWhen it comes to currencies and inflation, my go to guru is Everbank’s Chuck Butler. Chuck writes the Daily Pfennig which is a must read. He keeps us up to date on the currency markets and his predictions are almost always spot on – generally well ahead of everyone else. Chuck also has a terrific sense of humor. He goes in […]
» Read moreI don’t get it! I turned on my computer after a nice holiday weekend and was greeted with several headlines proclaiming: “Swiss bond yields now negative out to 50 years”. “The 50-year Swiss yield has hit a low of minus 0.0119 per cent, and yields are dropping across the board this morning, writes Joel Lewin.” The Swiss Exchange provides the […]
» Read moreAll five of us were huddled in the bathroom. Rain was pouring down in sheets, the noise was deafening. It sounded like a freight train. We sat on the floor and held our three small children close to us. Our small pre-fab home offered us little protection. We were terrified! An hour later we went outside and found the neighbor’s […]
» Read moreRemember going with your parents to the bank to open up your own savings account, in your own name? It was neat! What were you trying to accomplish? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a great tool for understanding investing. The base of all human needs is survival. Each and every day we need food and water to survive. Without that, […]
» Read moreParenting never ends. My granddaughter bought her first car and asked me about insurance. She had two quotes: one with a $100 deductible and a second for $500 deductible. She was leaning toward the $100 deductible because “it was only $10 more per month”. So why not take that option? I explained the higher premium policy buys an additional $400 in […]
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