First off, if you were counting on getting a few extra dollars in your Social Security checks during 2016, you might want to re-think that. The general opinion of the experts, including the trustees, is senior citizens will not see a cost-of-living (COLA) in 2016. Here’s why this might be true. The Government Executive website reported, ‘The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released another data point that provides a glimpse into the potential cost-of-living increase for federal retirees in … Continue reading

While I was up in Cincinnati last week to meet a few of our private wealth money managers (that I haven’t met yet), I saw this chart on the wall. I asked for a copy of and so I could share it with you all (at the bottom of this post). The chart shows each bull (BLUE) and bear (RED) market going back to the early 1900’s, the average annual gain (or loss) and the total gain during the bull market or total loss … Continue reading

After you watch my video, please take a moment to read the background of its making right below. I just spent the past 3 days traveling to and attending an investment conference in Denver focused on “Alternative Investments”. There were some 300+ participants who ranged from wirehouse stockbrokers, independent Registered Investment Advisors, portfolio managers, hedge fund and private placement managers, etc. Alternative investments have a very broad definition, but most agree that they are “intended to protect capital in most … Continue reading

In this week’s post I thought you might like to see a chart that I put together showing a number of market indexes and how they have done so far in 2015 (YTD) that I made on Yahoo Finance. You can see the chart below. Many people, who have heard on the news ( more than once this year) that the stock market (NASDAQ, Russell 2000 and the S&P 500) made a new all-time high, are going to be surprised to see that the … Continue reading

Watch my 75 second video and find out, if what you thought… was right? CLICK HERE to view! all the best… Mark