During periods of distress in the capital markets we often hear from investors who, rather than hold a portion of their portfolios in common stocks, tell us they plan to hold cash, in order to “wait to see what will happen” and later “get back in when things are more certain.” We understand their apprehension […]

Since last November’s election we have heard from many investors who are unnerved at the prospect of a socialist future. Indeed an enormous expansion of federal spending is underway and ambitious plans have been hatched for greater government involvement in healthcare, energy and in other sectors. Newsweek magazine recently went so far as to announce

The fact that we are currently experiencing a severe recession generates little “shock value” to most of us by now. We have read about and heard about the weakening state of the economy for the past 18 months. We have witnessed a 50 percent drop in the overall stock market. While not everybody has reached

Though the bear market that began last year will be remembered as one of the most severe in history, financial crises ultimately come and go. The financial services industry on the other hand, has been permanently altered. The bear market of 2008 will come to be regarded as a watershed year that triggered an investor

News of impending hyper-inflation is everywhere. Fund managers, financial bloggers and economic commentators are showcasing their “inflationsniffing” bona fi des and providing insight on how to confront this specter. Notably, Universa Investments, a fund associated with Nassim N. Taleb, best selling author of The Black Swan, has launched the “Black Swan Protection Protocol Inflation fund”

Last month we described Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). We recommended these securities for those investors who are concerned, in particular, with the potential for a loss in portfolio purchasing power due to unexpected price inflation, that is, the possibility that actual price inflation might exceed the inflation protection “built in” to the prices of

The chorus of concern over projected federal deficits has grown louder in recent weeks. Warren Buffett sounded the alarm in a New York Times commentary in which he wrote that, “unchecked greenback emissions will certainly cause the purchasing power of currency to melt” and that the “dollar’s destiny lies with Congress”. In the August Ten

“Gold should also have modern appeal in a world increasingly suspicious of central planning. The gold standard is an automatic mechanism, operated in a decentralized manner that coordinates the self-interest of all market participants. As such, gold is uniquely equipped to accommodate the greater sophistication and complexity that come with globally integrated markets. In contrast,

The next time you encounter a “talking head” pontificating about “where investors should be during this phase of the business cycle,” reach for the remote. During recessions the financial media invariably fixate on whether recovery has begun and what that portends for investors. However, economic indicators in fact provide no information that is useful with

From time to time it falls upon us to pull away the punch bowl just when the party is in full swing. To that end we remind our readers that gold, now at an all time high, is by far the most volatile of our recommended asset classes. Our target allocations exist to ensure discipline,