Fill your brain with some goodness and read some of these recommended articles on debt, investing, health, time management, and other interesting tidbits to give you a leg up in life.
Simplify your life. Find your truth. Work towards your goals.
Financial Planning
- The masses are piling into stocks at probably the worst time to pile into stocks. Behavioral finance has shown us time and again that herd mentality and flawed beliefs lead most people astray when it comes to investing. When markets are doing well, people want to invest (thus buying high). When markets turn, these same investors sour in mood and begin to sell (triggering more selling by fellow investors). So they sell low. Buying high and selling low is no way to be a long term successful investor. But at the end of the day, humans are just wired in a very flawed way that will never change. You can tell them all day long to be careful when valuations are at dangerous levels. But the fact that markets continue to rise, just gives them the false confidence that tomorrow will be just as glorious as today. Until it isn’t. Then it’s doom city. Then the poor bastards lose their money to more sophisticated and disciplined players. Rinse and repeat over the decades. That’s why the normal person never retires rich. – Opinion: The masses are going all-in for stocks, and that’s not good – https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAsfh1e
- A tool based on Census Statistics to help you compare you earning against others in your age bracket and geography. How does your income generating talents stack up? – Are you earning as much as people your age? – https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAsrNdm
Debt
- The U.S. now has surpassed $20 trillion in national government debt (chump change to politicians who don’t seem to care). Here’s how we got to this level of mess over the past few decades. How this ends, nobody really knows. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-the-us-got-to-20-trillion-in-debt-2017-03-30
- Another good example of a how leveraged buyout firms load up companies on massive debt, take them private, milk them for all they are worth and then leave the dead carcass to be sorted out in bankruptcy court. Debt is always fun, except all those times when you come to realize people want to be paid back, PLUS INTEREST – https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/toys-r-us-files-for-bankruptcy-crushed-by-online-competition
- There are still about 3 million homeowners who have negative equity in their homes and can’t move even if they wanted to for better job opportunities – Some homeowners still can’t sell because they owe more on the homes than they’re worth – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/22/heres-why-some-homeowners-still-cant-sell.html
Investments/Valuations
- At least this advisor is being honest (if even a bit conservative on the amount that markets are over-valued.). Not many advisors are willing to tell the truth because it isn’t in their own self-interest. Falling markets means falling values, lower fees and revenues and much lower profits for advisement firms. Who wants that? – The stock market would have to drop as much as 40% to be fairly valued, says advisor – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/stock-would-have-to-drop-as-much-as-40-percent-to-be-fairly-valued-advisor.html
- Doug Kass has been around Wall Street for decades and isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. He’s not afraid of being bullish and he’s not afraid of being skeptical and bearish. With all of that experience, he’s awfully bearish and skeptical. He’s also an excellent author – http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2017/09/08/im_not_afraid_of_a_bear_market_i_just_dont_want_to_be_there_for_it_102861.html
- If the second half of this market cycle (the bear cycle) plays out like usual/historical cycles, then all of the paper gains experienced since 2011 will be wiped out and major indexes will be back to levels that were also seen as far back as 2004. Most investors are completely ignorant to historical cycles and the long term reversion to valuation averages. In the short run, markets can do crazy thing (both bull and bear). But over time, markets trend back to fundamentals like earnings, cash flows, and real growth – https://realinvestmentadvice.com/technically-speaking-the-danger-of-performance-chasing/
- Nobel Prize winning economist compares our markets to those of 1929 just before the big crash and Great Depression. With that said, like an avalanche threat, you don’t know if or when the avalanche will occur. You only know the severity of the threat – The one big thing economist Robert Shiller says is preventing a 1929-like stock market crash – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/19/the-one-thing-shiller-says-is-preventing-a-1929-like-crash.html
- Another look at history from Nobel Prize winner in economics Robert Shiller. Those that fail to study history are most likely to repeat it. In this case, ignoring the warning signs and fragility of the global financial markets which include insane and extreme valuations may lead to significant losses for the ignorant and unprepared – http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-us-stock-market-looks-like-it-did-before-most-of-the-previous-13-bear-markets-2017-09-21
Macro
- FinTech is definitely a growing problem. Investors (especially younger Millenials) believe that FinTech is the answer because they reduce costs and systematize the investment process. Neither of those two objectives are bad in and of themselves. The issue with many FinTech services (especially RoboAdvisors) is that the completely ignore valuations during the investment process. Valuations ARE the essence of a good investment. Believing that future results are detached from the price you pay for any asset is an insane proposition. The price you pay is one of the top components needed for a successful investment. Pay too much, and future returns are almost guaranteed to be muted (or generate losses). – https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-18/the-next-crisis-will-start-in-silicon-valley
- Some inside the Fed coming to the realization that QE didn’t work as intended. Better late than never. Too bad the bad, negative and unintended consequences of too much stimulus and massive amounts of debt are already baked into the cake for years to come – Fed economist: ‘No evidence that QE works’ as central bank starts unwinding program – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/19/fed-economist-no-evidence-qe-works-as-balance-sheet-unwind-starts.html
Health
- Retirees commonly make two errors when forecasting their futures; first they underestimate how much income they will need and have in retirement. Second, they grossly underestimate how much healthcare and medical costs will consume of their budget. Their health starts to decline sooner than they predicted and the costs start adding up. Plan accordingly – 2 huge things people get wrong about retirement – https://a.msn.com/r/2/AAsdaNc
- Air pollution now shown to cause kidney disease in the U.S. We are slowly becoming a highly toxic nation on all fronts; food, water, air, consumer goods, home supplies, industrial materials, drugs – https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/21/new-study-shows-air-pollution-may-be-causing-kidney-disease-in-the-us.html
- An interesting study on walking speed and expected longevity in seniors – http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/04/walking-speed-may-predict-survival-in-seniors/
Other Tidbits
- Indoor farming is looking more and more interesting to me – Here’s how indoor farming can help feed 9.1 billion people by 2050 – http://on.mktw.net/2hl8YXe