An old trader once told me, “Trading is the hardest easy money you’ll ever make.”  In theory, trading is easy enough — all you have to do is buy low and sell high, right? After all, there are thousands of books claiming to have all the information we’ll ever need. In practice, however, trading is among the most difficult activities in the financial world. Despite the availability of a wealth of information, few do it well. In fact, all that accessible information actually makes it harder to trade successfully.  —Recommended Link— This “Good as Gold” Income Solution Could Pay You… Read More

An old trader once told me, “Trading is the hardest easy money you’ll ever make.”  In theory, trading is easy enough — all you have to do is buy low and sell high, right? After all, there are thousands of books claiming to have all the information we’ll ever need. In practice, however, trading is among the most difficult activities in the financial world. Despite the availability of a wealth of information, few do it well. In fact, all that accessible information actually makes it harder to trade successfully.  —Recommended Link— This “Good as Gold” Income Solution Could Pay You up to $3,379 per month FOR LIFE! Whether you’re hoping to build a bigger nest egg, travel more often, or just make the most out of your golden years, our advanced “Daily Paycheck” strategy is the most reliable way to DOUBLE your investment income. Click here to get started. Think about that for a moment.  If you could really win in the markets by simply buying stocks with low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios, then we would all be successful. As an old trader also once told me, “To know what everyone knows is to know nothing.” If everyone has the… Read More

You’ve probably seen it. And not just on financial sites either, but front page headlines on major media outlets like Yahoo.com, Fox News, and CNN. I’m talking about the inverted yield curve. Specifically, the fact that yields on the 10-Year Treasury (1.62%) slipped below those on the 2-Year note (1.63%). That’s not the natural order of things. Anyone who has ever bought a bank certificate of deposit (CD) knows that longer-term maturities are supposed to pay more than shorter ones. #-ad_banner-#The same is normally true in the bond world. Since the 1980s, the 10-Year Treasury has typically yielded about 100… Read More

You’ve probably seen it. And not just on financial sites either, but front page headlines on major media outlets like Yahoo.com, Fox News, and CNN. I’m talking about the inverted yield curve. Specifically, the fact that yields on the 10-Year Treasury (1.62%) slipped below those on the 2-Year note (1.63%). That’s not the natural order of things. Anyone who has ever bought a bank certificate of deposit (CD) knows that longer-term maturities are supposed to pay more than shorter ones. #-ad_banner-#The same is normally true in the bond world. Since the 1980s, the 10-Year Treasury has typically yielded about 100 to 200 basis points more than the 2-Year. That higher rate compensates investors for tying up their principal over a longer period as well as for the impact of inflation. But the upward sloping yield curve has flattened out recently, flirting with inversion. And on August 14, it finally happened. There have been other yield curve inversions in recent months involving 3-Year and 5-Year Treasuries. But the 2-10 curve is the most closely watched because of its uncanny predictive abilities. The last time this flip-flop happened was in December 2005, about two years before the Great Recession hit. We’ve seen… Read More

If you follow financial markets, you almost certainly heard the news that the yield curve inverted. That news sparked a steep selloff in the stock market.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 800 points. That was the fourth largest one-day decline in history.  Now, let’s look at the news rationally.  —Recommended Link— This Wyoming rancher can put $565 in your pocket each week From my ranch, I send out an email every Friday to 1,065 regular men and women… and before the day is out, they pocket $565 in cash. The following Friday, they do… Read More

If you follow financial markets, you almost certainly heard the news that the yield curve inverted. That news sparked a steep selloff in the stock market.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 800 points. That was the fourth largest one-day decline in history.  Now, let’s look at the news rationally.  —Recommended Link— This Wyoming rancher can put $565 in your pocket each week From my ranch, I send out an email every Friday to 1,065 regular men and women… and before the day is out, they pocket $565 in cash. The following Friday, they do it again… and collect another $565. Of course, that’s just an average, but over time it works out to exactly $565.25. We’ve done it 219 times so far. ​​Join us for the next one here. In percentage terms, that 800-point decline was the 342nd biggest one-day drop. With the index above 25,000, the Dow fell 3.05% on Wednesday. That’s still bad, but it’s not as bad as it sounds when we hear it’s the fourth worst one-day loss in history.  The yield curve inversion also isn’t as bad it sounds.  The yield curve is a graph… Read More

Are you worried about a recession? I’m guessing that you are – but probably not so much as to affect your spending (yet, anyway). On average, the American consumer is feeling just fine. Actually, more than “just fine,” as we learned after the Commerce Department issued its monthly retail sales update. Sales at the U.S. shops, restaurants and online retailers rose 0.7% in July from the previous month — the highest monthly increase since March — and were higher than a year earlier by 3.4%. While spending in some categories, including furniture retailers and automotive purchases, was weak, spending in… Read More

Are you worried about a recession? I’m guessing that you are – but probably not so much as to affect your spending (yet, anyway). On average, the American consumer is feeling just fine. Actually, more than “just fine,” as we learned after the Commerce Department issued its monthly retail sales update. Sales at the U.S. shops, restaurants and online retailers rose 0.7% in July from the previous month — the highest monthly increase since March — and were higher than a year earlier by 3.4%. While spending in some categories, including furniture retailers and automotive purchases, was weak, spending in others surged. Consumers spent more than $137.7 billion online — a record amount. And our appetite for dining out and eating takeout drove U.S. restaurant spending higher by 1.3%, to $61.6 billion, in July. Taken alone, this number might not look all that impressive. But the increase means that restaurants as a group have been doing better than the average retailer. Moreover, this also means that the annualized rate of growth in the money spent at restaurants over the past three months stands at a massive 25.3% — the fastest pace on record (with numbers going back to 1992). The… Read More

Nobody said this would be easy… Today’s market environment brings a lot of uncertainty. The volatility we’ve seen recently brought on by the continuous trade war with China to a possible looming recession as indicated by the yield curve has investors on edge. Even the highly anticipated interest rate cut July 31 by the Federal Reserve was met with skepticism as the market sold off on the news. To top it off, the market — and many stocks — are sporting lofty valuations, which makes it difficult to find that “great company trading at a discount” we’re all looking for,… Read More

Nobody said this would be easy… Today’s market environment brings a lot of uncertainty. The volatility we’ve seen recently brought on by the continuous trade war with China to a possible looming recession as indicated by the yield curve has investors on edge. Even the highly anticipated interest rate cut July 31 by the Federal Reserve was met with skepticism as the market sold off on the news. To top it off, the market — and many stocks — are sporting lofty valuations, which makes it difficult to find that “great company trading at a discount” we’re all looking for, much less even a fair price. —Recommended Link— 3 Minutes to Collect 12 Times More Money Than Social Security Just make this simple little 3-minute call and you can get set up to start collecting your checks. All told, your checks can add up to $225,326 over the next 25 years. Imagine that! And these checks are supported by $1.75 billion in new money every year. But you must act right now… because the next wave of checks will be sent out in just a few days. ​​Click here for the… Read More

The oft-quoted law of unintended consequences is an intriguing concept. Let’s say you join a gym to lose weight — and you meet the love of your life there. That’s an unintended consequence. #-ad_banner-#It works the other way, too. Let’s say you join a gym to lose weight — and you slip in the shower and break a leg. Both outcomes were unintended consequences. In pursuing your goal to get in shape, you didn’t necessarily go to the gym to meet a potential spouse, and you certainly didn’t join to end up in a cast. Most of the time, though,… Read More

The oft-quoted law of unintended consequences is an intriguing concept. Let’s say you join a gym to lose weight — and you meet the love of your life there. That’s an unintended consequence. #-ad_banner-#It works the other way, too. Let’s say you join a gym to lose weight — and you slip in the shower and break a leg. Both outcomes were unintended consequences. In pursuing your goal to get in shape, you didn’t necessarily go to the gym to meet a potential spouse, and you certainly didn’t join to end up in a cast. Most of the time, though, we refer to the law of unintended consequences in terms of macro-economic policies and events. Because of the complexities of any large social system, a policy — be it of a monetary nature or a fiscal one — can sometimes lead to an unintended result. In a 1936 article, sociologist Robert K. Merton identified five reasons a well-intended policy could go wrong — with ignorance and error being the most common ones. In line with his original approach, the law of unintended consequences has come to symbolize almost anything that goes wrong with any policy. There are too many examples… Read More

Suppose you were a job hunter presented with two options: a position offering a flat $50,000 per year with no pay hikes or one starting at $40,000 with a guaranteed 10% raise each year. If you were only a year away from retirement, the first option would make more sense. But for those with a bit longer to go, option number two would be the better deal. Not only will your paycheck grow each year, but it will do so by an increasing amount — $4,000 after the first 12 months, $4,400 after the next 12, and so on. After… Read More

Suppose you were a job hunter presented with two options: a position offering a flat $50,000 per year with no pay hikes or one starting at $40,000 with a guaranteed 10% raise each year. If you were only a year away from retirement, the first option would make more sense. But for those with a bit longer to go, option number two would be the better deal. Not only will your paycheck grow each year, but it will do so by an increasing amount — $4,000 after the first 12 months, $4,400 after the next 12, and so on. After just five years, you would be pulling down about $64,000 per year. And if the base compensation alone didn’t sway you, what if I also mentioned that the second job offer was from a prosperous growing company that also offered nice incentives such as generous 401(K) matching? I’m guessing that would only reinforce your decision. If this simple analogy makes sense, congratulations — you’re already a step ahead of the yield-hungry crowd and that much closer to financial independence. —Recommended Link— Retire up to 12 YEARS EARLY I started a unique retirement program three years ago, and we’re getting… Read More