“When seeking directors, CEOs don’t look for pitbulls. It’s the cocker spaniel that gets taken home.”1 The above quote is one of the ideas Warren Buffett conveyed in his most recent Berkshire Hathaway annual letter to shareholders.1 Buffett drives home the point that people who serve on the boards of public companies are there to…

Financial advisors often tell clients to keep an emergency fund of liquid assets, with enough to cover three to six months of living expenses. It makes you wonder why America’s largest companies don’t maintain a similar practice, with three to six months of emergency savings to help keep workers on payroll during difficult times. Unfortunately,…

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq experienced quite a roller coaster ride in March. There are mixed opinions as to whether it was due to the global economic impact of the seemingly unstoppable new COVID-19 coronavirus or due to the federal government’s delayed response and tactical efforts to constrain…

There are several factors contributing to the current housing shortage in the U.S. For starters, low inventory of existing homes for sale has driven up the prices of available housing, leaving many first- and second-time homebuyers unable to afford to buy or trade up. Housing permits for new construction have risen throughout the past couple…

The United States is a very large, land-mass country. Yet, it offers few options in terms of coast-to-coast mass public transit, particularly compared to other developed countries. Europe’s countries tend to be smaller and their cities more dense, making them more transit-friendly. Asian countries made enormous government investments in urban rail networks just as their…

Within the scope of an investment portfolio, the commonplace 401(k) may seem to be a simplistic account. But it’s not, especially when it comes to estate and legacy planning. The named beneficiary on the plan will inherit your 401(k) regardless of your will’s instructions. And from there, a spectrum of various choices emerge based on…

Here’s some food for thought regarding the aftermath of Watergate: “The great paradox of one of the worst presidential scandals of the 20th century was that it forced candidates to stop attacking each other and start persuading the nation that they could be trusted.”1 Wouldn’t it be nice if the 2020 elections followed this same…

One of the reasons investing never gets boring is because it is an ever-changing, never-sleeping industry that presents new opportunities — and new risks — every day. One of the most recent threats to the global business economy, and therefore investors, is the coronavirus and its far-reaching impact. China, home to much of the world’s…

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the amount of heat stored in the upper levels of the ocean reached an all-time high in 2019. This is a primary factor that contributes to the rise in sea levels. Furthermore, the world’s five warmest years have all occurred since 2015.1 On the heels of Davos…

After making a bunch of gloom-and-doom predictions about the markets in 2019, with fears of a pending recession, Wall Street money managers have a considerably more brightened outlook for 2020. Indeed, recent indicators have heightened expectations for U.S. economic growth this year. For example, the Conference Board is predicting a 2.1% rise in the gross…