Retirement Watch Weekly
Nursing Home Arbitration Agreements are Binding
Nursing homes have been joining the list of companies that require customers to sign agreements waiving their rights to go to court. Any disagreements must be taken to arbitration. A Kentucky court had found that the agreements weren’t binding when an agent for a nursing home resident signed the agreement on the resident’s behalf, unless […]
A Theory Why Stock Market Volatility is Low
Many investors have noticed that market volatility has been very low in 2017, and they’re developing theories. Some point to history and say low volatility indicates a major move is about to happen, and that is usually is a negative move. But there are other theories. This theory says that investors live and learn, and […]
Hard Data versus Anecdotes
There are significant inconsistencies between the major economic reports, and it’s important to resolve them. I’ve pointed to the inconsistencies several times in these weekly updates. Sentiment surveys and anecdotal reports have been extremely positive. The Small Business Optimism Index and consumer sentiment surveys surged to multi-year highs a few months ago. While they’re below […]
Life Expectancy by County
Life expectancy depends on many factors. Many people don’t realize how important where they live is in determining their life expectancy. A new research report presents the numbers by county in the U.S. The report has a lot of interesting details, not the least of which is that average life expectancy around the country varies […]
Highlights from the Berkshire-Hathaway Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of Berkshire-Hathaway is capped off each year with its two leaders, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, answering questions from shareholders and the media. It’s usually full of interesting and amusing comments. This article is a digest of some key points. And here’s a different take on the highlights. “I would say I’ve […]
A History of Mutual Funds
This is a republication on the web of a magazine article from 1999. It’s fairly brief, but it highlights some key points in mutual fund history in the U.S. I’ve always believed a good investor is a good historian. It’s important to take long-term perspectives such as this. Fund managers themselves are feckless forecasters. One […]
How Markets Fared in the First Third of 2017
We put the first third of 2017 behind us at the end of April and we now should take a look at how the different markets fared that month and so far this year. The big story was the U.S. dollar. You might remember that after the election in 2016, the dollar rose sharply. Investors […]
The Wrong Stock Market Bubble Predictions
Perhaps the most persistent feature of the financial world during my career is a large number of people stating that different assets are in bubbles or dangerously overvalued territory. It doesn’t matter how many times people are wrong about sighting bubbles. Investors and the media seem to flock to these negative forecasts. It’s been called […]
