2018 and older

In 1970 there were three cities in the world that were designated as Mega Cities, or had a population greater than 10 million. These Mega Cities were New York, Tokyo, and Osaka, Japan. The latest forecast is that in 2030…

This past week we spent two days in West Texas studying the oil and gas business.  Our goal was to learn more about the operations of energy companies who explore, produce and distribute petroleum and natural gas.  We also wanted to understand the current economics and…

Every so often the market for collectables grabs headlines, and what better way to kick off the shopping season this year than with a few notable observations on that market. A Patek Philippe pocket watch traded this month for a…

Tuesday’s mid-term election has been sliced and diced to death this week.  With the Republican Party taking a commanding number of seats in the Senate, the House, and the Governors’ races it would be hard not to suggest that the…

Seemingly every year as we roll into October the market turns to a state of dread.  Will we see another October event in the market that causes a massive loss in wealth as the market sells off?  The first October…

I found myself recently in Charleston on a business/mini retreat.  As has been my morning routine for far too many years, I got up early, started the coffee maker and then went in search of the daily news paper.  Yes,…

It’s brutal to watch a market go down and have to deal with the anxiety it creates.  TV commentary then whips the events of the day to an even higher level of dread.  Who really got hurt this week as…

We just got through the 3rd quarter and have been on track for what some market theorists call a normal year of equity performance in the US.  No, I’m not talking about a market that is up 15 or 20…

This was the week you felt like you didn’t want to go outside and certainly not get on an airplane. The “threat alert” shifted into full mode as we in the US saw that we are as vulnerable as the…

The first nine months of the year seemed like an investor’s nirvana.  It hardly mattered where you invested because you were likely rewarded without having to take on much risk.  A different story has played out since September though, with…