Since we’re spending so much time talking about “cliffs”, we thought we’d introduce you to our friend Carolyn McClanahan, MD/CFP, physician and financial planner. Carolyn, who writes for Forbes, has made herself an expert on all aspects of the Affordable Care Act and shares her…
Elissa participated in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s first Innovation Strategy meeting, held on Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, D.C. This is her report on the proceedings. Thanks to all of you who shared your ideas and comments! Elissa’s Report The purpose of the CFPB…
There seems to be a growing consensus that, notwithstanding Europe’s well-documented troubles, the region’s stock markets have become so beaten down that they may now be a real bargain. All other things being equal, the more equity prices get pushed down, the higher the expected…
Elissa has been invited to participate in the Financial Education Innovation Meeting of the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This meeting is bringing together academics, behavioral finance experts and financial counselors to identify and brainstorm solutions to common consumer decision-making problems. First of all,…
Daniel Gross, economics editor of Yahoo! Finance, discusses the euro-zone’s shrinking share of U.S. exports. With U.S. trade growing with neighbors Mexico and Canada, as well as the developing world, and shrinking with Europe, the euro-zone crisis threatens the U.S. trade economy less with each…
We’ve written before about the explosive growth of energy supplies due to new technologies, including the very real possibility that the U.S. will achieve energy independence. However, as Fareed Zakaria noted in Sunday’s edition of Global Public Square, a new golden age of gas is…
The Eurozone is back in the news today as economic and political events have given rise to fresh doubts that European policy-makers will get their financial house in order. Renewed uncertainty took several forms, from comments by the head of the IMF that Europe is…
The New York Times ran an interesting piece a few days ago (Wary of Heights (and the Future)) that pointed out the seeming paradox of the S&P 500 Index hitting four-year highs, while investors continue to sit skeptically on the sidelines. Morningstar reports another $3.8…
Dylan Grice of Societe Generale (SoGen) makes the case that commodity investing doesn’t make sense for the long-term investor (as opposed to the speculator). This has always been the Yeske Buie position as well, and largely for the same reason. Commodities do not have intrinsic…