The Debt Ceiling Fiasco is Behind Us, But Are We Facing a Debt Armageddon?

The debt ceiling fiasco is behind us, but are we facing a debt Armageddon? To me it was fairly clear that it was unlikely the Republicans would take this too far, because previously when they did that, it hurt them at the elections. However, they were able to squeeze an effect of 12-month freeze in […]

If the Economy’s Not Broken, What Can Go Wrong?

The economy is not broken, but what can go wrong? This is not a Pollyanna video. There are real threats to talk about, but usually they’re not the threats that people are thinking of. In the last video we discussed the extraordinary performance of the United States economy relative to the rest of the world. […]

Everyone Agrees the Economy is Broken. Why?

Is the Economy Bad or Good? Everybody seems to agree that the economy is broken. Why? And more relevantly, why might they be wrong? As we know, Trump promised to make America great again, and Biden is spending $2 trillion to build back better. Despite the fact that 80% of the population are expressing concern […]

Bonds are on Sale!

For years, we’ve preached “stay short-term on your bonds”, but today’s the inflection point where the interest rate risk we’ve worried about is now offset by reinvestment risk. So, what is reinvestment risk? For the past few years, we’ve preached short-term bonds and inflation-protected bonds. Today, the Vanguard Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF has a forward […]

How to Lose Billions Buying Stock Options

A week or two ago, I read a great article in The Economist and it was talking about a new form of gambling that seems to have taken hold in the United States, and it’s trading options just hours before they expire. As many of you already know, options can be bought 30, 60, 90 […]

What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and Should We Care?

What is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) A question came up recently: what is a central bank digital currency and why should we even care? Well, a central bank digital currency is in essence a digital form of the country’s fiat currency issued and regulated by a central bank, or to put it another […]

Is the U.S. Dollar’s Global Dominance at Risk?

So there’s been a lot written about the importance of the U.S. dollar being the global reserve currency. What happens if we lose that status and is that even likely? Periodically, you’ll read this discussion about the reserve currency status and how with the debt and other factors, the United States is at risk of […]

How Opportunity Zones Can Wipe Clean Your Capital Gains

This is the fifth video in this series. In the first four, we identified real estate investment opportunities, we discussed the challenge of capital gains and depreciation, we talked about using 1031 exchanges to defer that depreciation. But is there a way to just eliminate those capital gains? A qualified opportunity zone. What is it? […]

How to Leverage 1031 Exchanges for Tax Savings

In the last three videos we’ve talked about real estate investing, capital gains, depreciation, recapture, and how to defer those using 1031 exchanges. As we know, 1031 exchanges defer capital gains on real estate transactions, but sometimes they’re tricky. Today we’re going to talk about some advanced strategies to maximize the benefit of 1031 exchange. […]

Just How Fragile is the Banking System?

With all the news of bank failures, just how fragile is the banking system today and what, if anything, can you do about it? If you’re one of my clients, you already know that interest rates, when they rise, cause bond values to fall. Long bonds fall a lot. This is why for the last […]