Market Insights
What’s it Worth?
Weekly Blog #8 “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Warren Buffett Adam Smith’s invisible hand tells us that in a free market, prices are set by what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept. And for many goods and services,
Creative Accounting
Weekly Blog #7 “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Wimpy Washington bureaucrats would like the rest of us to believe that government accounting is somehow different—and more complicated—than personal or corporate accounting. They suggest that managing the federal coffers requires the knowledge and expertise of the managerial
Return of the Fed Put?
Weekly Blog #6 “Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.” John Maynard Keynes If it seems like markets are backward, sideways, and upside down these days, you’re not imagining things. We’ve officially reentered the realm of the Fed Put—that bizarre world where bad news is interpreted as
Tariffs: Friend or Foe?
Weekly Blog #5 “Trade protection accumulates riches for a few while the many grow poorer.” Adam Smith A tariff is, at its core, a tax on imported goods. While taxes on income and property are familiar to most people, tariffs tend to operate more quietly in the background, much like
Risky Business
Weekly Blog #4 “The price of admission to higher returns is volatility.” Morgan Housel Every investor wants to make money. But making money is not the same thing as making money wisely. The difference? Risk. More specifically, the risk premium—the extra return an investor demands for taking on uncertainty. If
Rent Versus Buy-2025
February 2025 “Owning a home is a hedge against rising rents.” Warren Buffett For decades, the American Dream has centered on home ownership as a fundamental pillar of financial security. Conventional wisdom has long held that renting is simply a stepping stone to owning, with homeownership viewed as the wiser
By The Numbers
Weekly Blog #3 “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” Benjamin Franklin Real estate has long been a cornerstone of wealth building. Unlike stocks or bonds, it offers investors a tangible asset with inherent value. Furthermore, while stocks have historically provided double-digit growth, the average dividend yield is a
Housing Market Outlook 2025
“Real estate cannot be lost or stolen, nor can it be carried away. Purchased with common sense, paid for in full, and managed with reasonable care, it is about the safest investment in the world.” Franklin D. Roosevelt Between 2000 and 2007, annual housing starts soared from 1.6 million to
Inflation: It’s Complicated
“The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” Vladimir Lenin Inflation is one of those things that everyone thinks they understand but few can define precisely. Today, it’s commonly used to describe rising prices—the cost of groceries, gas, or just about
