Tag Archives: Investing

As part of the sanctions against Russia, seven Russian banks have been cut off from SWIFT. We start by discussing what SWIFT is, and then the implications of completely cutting Russia out of SWIFT. What is SWIFT and Why Russia is Being Excluded SWIFT – The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication is a messaging system that links more than 11,000 banks in 200 countries. The system doesn’t move actual money between the banks but...

Hiking rates into a wildly overvalued market is potentially a mistake. So says Bank of America in a recent article. Optimists expecting the stock market to weather the rate-hike cycle as they’ve done in the past are missing one important detail, according to Bank of America Corp.’s strategists.While U.S. equities saw positive returns during previous periods of rate increases, the key risk this time round is that the Federal Reserve will be “tightening into an...

“Sell Energy Stocks” Was Originally Published At Marketwatch.com Sell energy stocks? Such certainly seems counter-intuitive advice given high oil prices, geopolitical stress, and surging inflation. However, some issues suggest this could indeed be the time to “sell high.” Before we go further, it is essential to state that I am not recommending selling energy stocks in total. As is always the case, portfolio management is about minimizing risk and preserving...

The ‘Fed put’ – gone until there’s blood in the streets Well, it’s happening.  Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies are sharply down, along with equity markets in many advanced economies. And the Federal Reserve (the U.S. Central Bank) statement and press conference on Wednesday didn’t indicate any backing down from raising interest rates, maybe as soon as the March meeting. The Fed’s stance pivot from ‘the economy needs additional stimulus’ to ‘it is time to start...

The market selloff into January rattled investors as concerns of “So Goes January, So Goes The Year” began to dampen expectations. Combined with a more aggressive stance from the Federal Reserve, rising inflation, and a reduction in liquidity, investor concerns seem to be well-founded. As discussed last week in “Passive ETFs Are Hiding A Bear Market,” the “blood bath” in the high-beta stocks is particularly humbling for the retail crowd that piled into risk with...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Recently, inflation has started to climb again, especially in the United States. And many investors are worried about what this will do to their investments. So, I want to talk about what we should do to our investments when inflation rises and what assets classes perform best when prices increase. The return of inflation First, let’s not forget that inflation never went anywhere. In the united states, like in most countries,...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Many people are wondering how much is our house costing us. But, it was difficult to answer that question before we lived inside for a while. After one year spent in our house, I want to summarize all the fees we have paid. I am only going to compare what changed. For instance, we still pay about the same electricity as before, so this does not change. But heating is different, and we have to pay for water, for instance. Hopefully,...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Even before my son was born, I knew I was going to invest for my children. It is a great idea to invest for your children, and it makes a lot more sense than to let money rests on a bank account with very low interest rates. However, until recently, I never worried about how to achieve that. Once my son was born, it was time to research the best way to invest for my children! And I found a great way to do so. In this article, I...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) Using the third pillar in Switzerland is a great way to save money on your taxes. However, it is not always easy to choose a third pillar provider since there are many of them, and new ones are regularly coming. Freya 3a is a new third pillar available in Switzerland. They aim to provide sustainable investments for the third pillar, and they claim that they are doing differently than the existing third pillars and at a reasonable...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) It seems that there will not be a shortage of Robo-Advisors in Switzerland anytime soon. These last few years, there has been more and more new Robo-Advisor available for Swiss investors. Findependent is a recent Robo-Advisor. They only started in 2021. But they have some interesting characteristics already. This review will cover all there is to know about Findependent and its pros and cons. It is important to mention that...