Is Cash the New Black?
Every year, American Express publishes an in depth “Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America.” The 2012 version is notable for the attitudinal differences between the top 1%, 10% and everyone else (aka the 90 or 99%). A few quick bullet points: • Incomes up 6% for top 1% in 2011. Slightly lower among everyone...
65th CFA Conference
> I will be spending the next few days appearing at and attending the 65th annual CFA conference in Chicago. (For those of you who know what happens when I travel, you have been warned!) The conference site has lots of goodies: You can stream the event; see the full schedule; get bios of all...
People Are Losing Trust In All Institutions
Lack of Trust – Caused by Institutional Corruption – Is Killing the Economy The signs are everywhere: Americans have lost trust in our institutions. The Chicago Booth/Kellogg School Financial Trust Index published yesterday shows that only 22% of Americans trust the nation’s financial system. Robert Shiller said Monday: Our whole economy has been affected by...
Flowchart for Changing a Habit
click for giant flowchart
via Charles Duhigg
Where Sea Monsters Live
Last weekend, I got into — or more like watched — an interesting finance debate related to specific policies, websites, officials and analysts. All the usual suspects were covered. One person went on and on about central-bank planned economies, manipulated currencies, debasing of the dollar, gold, HFT, etc. “Its all a Ponzi scheme” he declared,...
The New Economic Order?
> Over the weekend, Josh Brown directed me to this monthly commentary from the Eclectica fund, which had the very interesting chart, above. (Full Eclectica Fund April 2012 commentary is here). The issue with the graphic above is that we have no real comparative history by which to judge this. It seems to be a...
HNW Investor Perspectives
> Source: High Net Worth Investors Confident Schwab Advisor Services News, April 26, 2012 <br>http://pressroom.aboutschwab.com/press-release/schwab-advisor-services-news/schwab-study-finds-high-net-worth-investors-confident-the
Hilariously Ill-Informed, Shockingly Clueless, Cognitively Impaired, Ignorant Commenters at Yahoo Finance
I’ve been meaning to address this for some time, and today is as a good a time as any. Over the years, I have participated in interviews at Yahoo Finance — its always a fun time, Aaron Task, Jeff Macke, Henry Blodget, Dan Gross & Co. are very sharp guys. Its usually a short, smart...
Hilariously Ill-Informed, Shockingly Clueless, Cognitively Impaired, Ignorant Commenters at Yahoo Finance
I’ve been meaning to address this for some time, and today is as a good a time as any. Over the years, I have participated in interviews at Yahoo Finance — its always a fun time, Aaron Task, Jeff Macke, Henry Blodget, Dan Gross & Co. are very sharp guys. Its usually a short, smart...
Topping or Consolidation?
I have a jam-packed day today — Yahoo Finance, Jeff Gundlach’s Doubleline presentation, and the MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan — but I wanted to jot a few thoughts down before heading out the door. The recent sturm und drang about the market pullback has taken me aback. I do not recall ever hearing so much noise...
Discontents: In Nothing We Trust
Fascinating article in the National Journal: Americans are losing faith in the institutions that made this country great. Other than the US Military, most of the major institutions are on the downslide, according to Public Opinion: Congress, Banks, Supreme Court, Newspapers, the Presidency, even TV — all looked at negatively. Gee, I wonder why that...
