Much has been reported about the Federal Reserve’s reducing interest rates by 50 basis points, lowering the federal funds rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%. The move represents a pivot from the past two years of rate hikes, which were designed to combat inflation, and signals the Federal Reserve’s conclusion that inflation — down to 2.5% from a peak …
Obstacles to Successful Long-Term Investing
In March of 2016, and as published in our book Thinking About Investing, we added to our behavioral finance principles by discussing Richard Thaler’s book, Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, and articles in The New York Times “Your Money” section from March 27, 2016. The point of the discussion was to present some of the personality traits that can …
Money, Meet Meaning: Introducing a New Podcast
April 15, Tax Day: the culmination of our annual season of data-gathering, number-crunching, and spiritual reflection. What’s that? You don’t use tax season as an opportunity for self-examination and renewal? OK, fine – me neither. Tax Season is a time-intensive, laborious grind, and you’re no doubt in good company if you offer a grunt of thanksgiving when it mercifully wraps up. In many ways, …
An Ongoing Battle Between Facts and Vibes
Here’s something curious. This week The Wall Street Journal published the results of a survey it conducted with several thousand swing state voters. The paper asked about political preferences, naturally, but its questions extended into the survey respondents’ views of the economy. According to the Journal, about three-quarters of respondents said inflation had moved in the wrong direction over the …
Your Best Investment
What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? Reflexively, some might point to a particular stock in their portfolio – maybe they took a flier on Berkshire Hathaway a few decades ago or bought Amazon when it was primarily an online book seller. Some lucky few might shine their light on something more tangible: a garage sale masterpiece or a rookie baseball card of …
Gratitude and Its Benefits
We’ve reached another Thanksgiving. A national moment for giving thanks and feeling grateful. In this installment of Life with Money, we’d like to home in on gratitude. Before we discuss it, we would like first to express it. First, we want to say: we’re grateful for you, our clients. We’re grateful for the depth and length of our relationships with you. Likewise, …
The Value of Play
For the past 15 years or so, I’ve had a very important hold on my calendar on Wednesdays at 5 pm. If I’m in Chicago, I make it there, with surprisingly few exceptions. My appointment is at the basketball court in our local neighborhood Jewish Community Center. There, 8-10 middle-aged men gather to stretch, play, sweat, hydrate, rinse and repeat until our …
Celebrating Juneteenth
The Park Piedmont team will be off this coming Monday, June 19, in commemoration of Juneteenth National Independence Day. Juneteenth is a federal and public U.S. holiday on which federal banks are closed. Stock and bond markets will be closed as well. We will return on Tuesday, June 20. Juneteenth is at once a long-running holiday and one whose name and …
An Update on the Debt Ceiling Negotiations
We wanted to share an update on the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations. The most up-to-date reports are that President Biden’s White House and the Republican House leadership appear to be moving closer toward an agreement. As reported by the New York Times this morning, the two sides look to be coalescing around “a deal that would raise the debt limit for …
What the Debt Limit Might Mean for Investors
The subject of the United States debt limit has been in the news, and we want to discuss both what it is and what it might mean for you as investors. What is the debt limit? The United States has for many years maintained a debt limit, which provides a ceiling for how much money the federal government can borrow to …