Tag Archives: 9) Personal Investment

The Lifeline of Markets- Liquidity Defined We recently read an analogy in which the author compares the current state of asset prices to an airplane flying at 50,000 feet. Unfortunately, we cannot find the article and provide a link. The gist is market valuations are flying at an abnormally high altitude. While our market plane cannot sustain such heights in the long run, there is little reason to suspect it will fall from the sky either. Many investors are writing...

“Capitalism” is not the same as “Corporatism.” Yet, whenever you mention capitalism, there is palpable anger arising from a fundamental widespread misbelief. “‘Evil’ corporations are greedy and take advantage of the system for their benefit.” I have two words for you – “No S***.” Such does not mean capitalism has become “broken.” On the contrary, capitalism created the opportunity for corporations to exist. Things went wrong when corporations took advantage of the...

You have probably heard of the 4% rule if you are interested in early retirement. This rule states that if you withdraw 4% of your portfolio every year, you can sustain your withdrawals for 30 years. But do you know where it comes from? If you have read a lot about it, you probably heard about the Trinity Study. This study is where it all started. But do you know what the Trinity Study is? Probably not. A lot of things people are saying about the Trinity Study are...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Many people are saying that I make FIRE and early retirement look too simple. And many people are falling into the trap of believing that retiring early is easy. I want to delve into that important subject. For me, retiring early is simple, there is no doubt. However, it is not easy! The difference is fundamental. And there are no secrets to getting to FIRE. You need to focus your efforts on that goal. And...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) PostFinance is a well-known Swiss bank and broker. They are generally considered to be very affordable and very easy to use. If you want a Swiss broker, should you use PostFinance as a Swiss investor, especially as a passive investor? This is what we are going to find out in this in-depth review. In this article, we will see what PostFinance offers as a broker, how much it costs, and much more too. By the...

Last weekend, I joined Richard Rosso, CFP and Danny Ratliff, CFP to discuss the outlook for the markets for the rest of this year and take questions from our attendees. We cover a lot of ground from: The financial markets now and what to expect.  Valuations Inflation outlook. The dollar. Why Government actions are destroying the foundation of capitalism. Plus some interesting questions on  Why you shouldn’t put real estate in a tax-deferred account. Better ways to...

Taper Is Coming: Got Bonds? The solid economic recovery and easing of COVID restrictions lead us to believe a tapering of QE may not be far off. Further supporting our opinion, inflation has fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and employment is improving rapidly. On top of that are whispers from within the Fed questioning financial stability given extreme asset valuations driven to some degree by excessive QE. Most importantly, various Fed members are starting to...

“The strong economic recovery will not get interrupted by inflation or a credit crunch, and the market will soon reach 4,500.” – Ed Yardeni via Advisor Perspectives After discussing BofA’s view of why the market could drop to 3800,  I thought it fair to discuss a more optimistic view. BofA’s view of a market correction was a function of the more exuberant “optimism” in the market. To wit: “This analysis is interesting, particularly when analysts are rushing to...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) We all want to pay lower taxes! When you fill your tax declaration in Switzerland, it is important to take advantage of all possible tax deductions. Tax deductions allow you to reduce your taxable income. Since your taxable income will directly drive the amount of taxes you are going to pay, it is essential to reduce it when possible. So, in this article, I want to go into detail about all the possible tax...

“If everyone sees it, is it still a bubble?” That was a great question I got over the weekend. As a “contrarian” investor, it is usually when “everyone” is talking about an event; it doesn’t happen. As Mark Hulbert noted recently, “everyone” is worrying about a “bubble” in the stock market. To wit: “To appreciate how widespread current concern about a bubble is, consider the accompanying chart of data from Google Trends. It plots the relative frequency of Google...