The thing about investing is that it’s a lot easier to look back than forward. I will take the easy way out and talk about what was interesting in 2021. The website Investopedia has more than 20 million monthly readers. As you likely concluded by the website’s name, it draws a more investment-centric crowd than Google. Investopedia identified the most popular investment terms of 2021. I’ll list them and give my thoughts on why they were so popular. Were any of these compelling to you last year? Capital gains tax: Last year, investors were trying to determine if they should sell assets and…
Insights & Advice
General Interest
Has labor found its mojo?
Workers in America are rethinking who they are and what they want. For the first time in decades, the stars have aligned to give the labor movement a much-needed lift. Will this prove to be a flash in the pan, or something more lasting? The share of American workers who claim union membership has been declining for years. There is a myriad of reasons for this decades-long decline. U.S. legislation and the court system has created enormous challenges to forming unions. The transfer of jobs to low-paying countries overseas has also devastated union membership. Labor membership can also be expensive…
Holiday spending expected to stay strong
Despite the recent scare caused by Omicron, the new coronavirus mutation, retailers are hoping consumers will continue spending in December 2021. I like that bet. The National Retail Federation (NRF) is expecting a record holiday season totaling a take of between $843 billion and $859 billion in revenues throughout November 2021 and December 2021. That would be a record year for retailers such as Target, Walmart and Amazon. Time is running out, however, given that we have less than three weeks to go until Christmas Day. Remember, too, that the shopper began picking up gifts earlier than normal this year…
Thanksgiving post-pandemic
Consumers are making up for last year’s subdued Thanksgiving holiday. Air travel has jumped. Traffic on the roads is expected to be heavy. Grocery stores are crowded, and families are getting back together again all over the country. Hurrah! As most readers know, last year’s holiday was a bit of a dud largely because of the pandemic. Fewer people travelled. Instead, many of us decided to play it safe. Across the nation, family members decided to remain home, avoid the possibility of contagion, and postpone celebrating together until this year. That was a smart decision. In the meantime, the coronavirus…
Market’s week of indecision
Stocks and bonds traded in a tight range for most of the week. Some stocks were rewarded, while others punished, based on their earnings results. The U.S. dollar hit a series of new yearly highs, and just about everyone is waiting for President Biden’s pick to head the Federal Reserve Bank. That announcement could come as early as this weekend. Chairman Jerome Powell’s term will end in February 2022. He is a Republican, picked by former President Donald Trump. He had a somewhat rocky relationship with the ex-president but did manage to maintain the independence of the central bank despite…
The teacher shortage
The U.S. labor shortage is hitting the public education sector hard. Yes, COVID-19 and its mutations have had a lot to do with the lack of teachers, but the problem predates the pandemic. In just the last two months, 65,000 public education employees left the industry. Across the United States, in October 2021, there were 575,000 fewer state and local education employees than in February 2020, according to the latest employment report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The pandemic, in some ways, was simply the straw that broke this camel’s back. Stagnant wages, or worse, falling wages, have beset…
Good earnings support markets
Third quarter earnings have cheered investors, sending markets to new highs. The bullish wave of buying was so strong that investors ignored the disappointing third quarter read on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Economists were looking for the economy to grow by 2.6%, but instead, GDP gained a mere 2%, which was the slowest rate in over a year. Economic activity was damaged by the Delta variant as well as continuing supply-side constraints. The market’s reaction indicates that investors are looking through the weak number and expecting the economy to continue to grow. It seems to be a question…
The billionaire taxes
This week, the Democrats unveiled a new plan to finance President Biden’s “Build Back Better” legislation. That proposal, along with a 15% corporate minimum tax, has politicians scrambling to line up for or against the idea. Does it have a chance to pass? Credit for the idea goes to the Senate’s top tax expert, Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR). His plan is to target only people with $1 billion in assets, or who are earning more than $100 million over three consecutive years. This group would be required to pay capital gains taxes each year on the appreciation in the…
I love the nightlife
“Please don’t talk about … all the trouble we’ve been through. Ah, please don’t talk about all of the plans we had for fixin’ this broken romance.” —Alicia Bridges Once upon a time, we enjoyed the conversation and company of others. Sometimes it feels as if we’ve gotten used to avoiding the public. For some, it now seems as if that’s their preference. After what feels like a lifetime of sheltering in place, perhaps we’re ready to mend that broken romance and find love again. Pole dancing classes are up 56 percent year-over-year, according to the Yelp Economic Average report for the third…
Barbie gets better with age
Despite this new age of video games, electronic toys, and diminishing attention spans, children are returning to a toy that is almost as old as me. Mattel’s Barbie doll is back and at the top of many holiday shopping lists. Some of the credit for Barbie’s new-found popularity can be attributed to the pandemic. The lockdowns and the subsequent search for things to keep children occupied had mothers remembering their own fascination with all-things Barbie. Buying a Barbie, however (at least until recently), had parents wrestling with several negative stereotypes. Leading the list was the doll’s image of a whites-only…
How to save money with tax-gain harvesting
Tax-gain harvesting is an opportunity to convert a long-term taxable gain into a potentially tax-free cost basis. Readers are probably familiar with tax-loss harvesting. Tax-loss harvesting is a form of tax planning. It’s the process of selling some investments at a loss, usually to offset gains you’ve realized when selling other assets at a profit. The losses can offset the gains, thereby reducing your tax bill. As the owner of a financial advisory firm (Berkshire Money Management), tax-loss selling is not an unfamiliar practice to me. Not only do I appreciate it because it reduces tax obligations, but I like…
Golf continues to grow
In 2020, during the midst of the pandemic, golf made a comeback. More than 24.8 million people discovered outdoor refuge on the links last year, and the popularity of the sport continues to grow. Golf, as many have discovered, is an outdoor activity that has proven to be an almost perfect answer to the limitations of the pandemic. Players can get outside, exercise, and at the same time, socially distance themselves from one another. Last year, the U.S. saw the largest increase in golfers (2%) in 17 years. This year, the number of rounds played was up 16.1%, compared to…
Markets are on the cusp
It was another tumultuous week in the markets. Volatility spiked as events in Washington and around the world injected an atmosphere of caution and indecision among investors. I expect more of the same. Welcome to October. A month in which I see a continuation of the last few weeks of uncertainty. The political circus in Washington, D.C. is not helping, and is set to continue making headlines in the days ahead. The debt limit controversary is probably the largest challenge investors face this month. Simultaneously, the battle between progressive and moderate Democrats over the passage of two government spending programs,…
Are mandatory vaccinations legal?
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest measure of economic growth. The U.S. GDP grew 6.4% in the previous quarter. By any standards, that’s a remarkable growth rate. GDP for this quarter has dropped precipitously to a forecasted rate of 3.7%. At the start of the quarter, there were growth expectations of 6.5% from Oxford Economics and Morgan Stanley. Typically, a 3.7% growth rate would be considered exceptional. However, measuring a $21 trillion economy is complicated and includes some mathematical estimates. I won’t run us through the calculation, but here’s the gist of it: the demand had been so significant that…
When doves cry
“How could you just leave me standing, alone in a world so cold?” —Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to Congress (and Prince) Last week I wrote about the probability of two separate bills passing into law. The total spending approaches $5 trillion. Whether you are for or against the bills, there is no denying that it’s a massive amount. I didn’t get into whether I think they’re good ideas. And I don’t think I will today. The politics of each component are nuanced. Many are politically charged. The two bills are both being called “infrastructure” bills. Still, many people are quick…
Non-fungible tokens come of age
NFTs are digital assets. For those like me, who are old enough to be grandparents, and may still read the newspapers, the concept of a digital asset may not be all that intuitive. “Non-fungible” means that it is a unique asset that can’t be replaced with something else. NFTs are bought and sold online (usually with a cryptocurrency), and stored and encoded in the same way. The difference is that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, are fungible and can be traded, or replaced, with another bitcoin. These digital assets can include everything from original art, videos, and music, as well as…