December 31, 2021

Since moving to Westfield more than 15 years ago, Pearl and I have celebrated New Year’s Eve the same way. We start with elegant hors d'oeuvres (think cocktail franks), attend a concert at the high school by the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, and conclude with a dinner that would be appreciated by any transplanted New Yorker. 

December 31, 2021

In between COVID surges, you may have noticed that it’s getting harder and harder to find salespeople in stores or staff in the supermarket. When was the last time you called an 800# and had the call answered by a human in a reasonable amount of time? In other words, while you may be itching to help the economy by spending some of your hard-earned money, you may have noticed there are fewer people around to take it. 

December 31, 2021

Writing in the NY Times Business section¹, Jeanna Smialek provided a brief yet thorough treatise as to what causes inflation and how it might affect us over the near term. Considering that articles about inflation have been widespread of late, it might be useful to understand how it might impact both your purchasing power and portfolio.

November 15, 2021

Within a four-hour time span, two seniors gave me identical advice, word for word: “Don’t grow old.” In turn, I used the same words to reply to both: “I don’t like the alternative.”

November 15, 2021

When market conditions change, investors often feel compelled to do something. To that end, we can agree on one point: it’s challenging to stand by and watch events transpire. The typical working assumption is: Something I own must be sold; something I don’t own must be bought, because, well, things are going to change. But what if doing nothing is the best thing you can do?

November 15, 2021

Over the years, various terms have been applied to explain ways to invest ‘more responsibly.’ Terms such as SRI (Socially Responsible Investing) and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Measures) were early to the market. Now, almost any combination of the words Sustainability, Green, Ethical and/or Eco will attract investment dollars.

September 30, 2021

For a very unusual reason, it was especially difficult to write this edition of Stan’s World. It wasn’t because anything was wrong; it was because I was continually distracted by the commotion under my office window. Frankly, the police were no help at all in quelling the disturbance.

They were making a movie!

September 30, 2021

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at more pedestrian numbers, like 6,000, 8,000, or even 10,000, market drops of 600, 700, and 800 points caused quite a stir. That reaction was logical, as a drop of 600 points when the Dow was at the 10,000 level meant a loss of 6%. A drop of 600 points when the Dow is at 30,000, however, represents a loss of 2%. Yes, it’s still a loss, but a drop of that size in today’s stock market means a substantially smaller loss to a diversified portfolio.

September 30, 2021

In a brief titled “Rising rates don’t negate benefits of bonds,” Vanguard¹ addresses arguments that target why investors shouldn’t own bonds in a low interest or rising interest rate environment. They start with a point we’ve made ad nausea over the years: “…the role bonds play in a diversified investment portfolio – to be a shock absorber at times when equity prices head downward.”

August 15, 2021

Across the board, businesses in America were ill-prepared to power down when COVID hit and were even less prepared when the economy started to reopen a few months later. Once supply chains were effectively shut down, ratcheting up has proven far more difficult.