Category Archives: General Investing

Before the Great Depression of 1929, the United States experienced a mini, almost forgotten depression towards the tail-end of World War 1 (1920-1921). That mini depression was partly caused by the government slashing its expenses to balance its budget considering the wartime debt the country took on. That plus rapidly rising prices brought upon byContinue reading “Gold Is Not An Investment”

Life is fragile; we all know that. But we get so busy with our day-to-day living that we procrastinate and forget to do the most fundamental thing we should do to protect our families. And that is to insure our lives. It’ll cost some money, but it is the best money you’ll ever spend. AndContinue reading “The Right Way To Insure Your Life”

Stock market composition changes by the country. United States is tech heavy. Canada is banks heavy. Australia is commodities heavy. Emerging markets were commodities heavy a few years back. They turned tech heavy with the rise of the likes of Alibaba and Tencent. That can change and it will change. That is the nature ofContinue reading “Currency Movements Don’t Matter”

As the rest of the world lay in ruins, the United States was pretty much the only country left with production capacity intact post-World War 2. And with a lot of rebuilding that was to follow meant that the nation’s factories were running overtime to meet the inexhaustible demand. Plus, with exploding domestic consumption asContinue reading “Don’t Fall For The Growth Trap”

Gary Smith in his book, Standard Deviations talks about the evolution of peppered moths, usually found in nature as light-colored creatures. But that was not always the case. A trickle of dark-colored moths started appearing in 1848 England but by 1895, ninety-eight percent of the peppered moths found there were dark-colored. But by the 1950s, the pendulum startedContinue reading “Hardwired To Be Screwed”

Stocks are volatile. And a big reason they’ll remain volatile is because of where a stock’s value comes from. The value of a stock today is the sum of all the cash flows (dividends) a business (stock) will deliver to its shareholders in perpetuity, discounted to the present at the appropriate discount rate. Not toContinue reading “Capital Preservation And Growth Doesn’t Exist”

Recessions are necessary to clear out excesses. They are part of the growth cycle. They make sure that our savings get re-channeled into the right investments. They cause pain. They are supposed to cause pain. But that is a transitory pain. The world has endured recessions and depressions. A decent number of them will occurContinue reading “The Cardinal Investing Sin”

What if there was an account to which you can contribute money to before tax, invest and let the money grow tax-free and then spend that money tax-free? This looks like a fantasy setup but it is not, and you should know about it. Consumer-Directed Health Plans (CDHP) combine a High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) withContinue reading “Truly Tax Free”

You want to feel inflation? Try visiting a country like India every other year. I mean you are gone a while, but you only remember the prices of the past. Then you go there again and get price shocked everywhere you turn. Inflation, an ever-present tax on us, is structural in most emerging economies. TheyContinue reading “Stocks, Bonds, Bills & Inflation”

My daughters each have their own investment accounts, funded with a little bit of money they receive from allowances and gifts. And regardless of how disinterested they appear or seem to appear, I talk to them about the world and the goings in the markets at every chance I get. I am the boringest dadContinue reading “Nobody Wants To Get Rich Slow”