Investments

During the 2008 – 2009 recession, I lost about 35% of my net worth in about six months. I don’t plan on doing that again. I want to share how we can make lots of money during the next downturn. In 2022, the S&P 500 gave up all its 2021 gains. However, thankfully, the S&P 500 […]

Are you wondering how the stock market has performed during previous Fed-rate-hike cycles? This article will explore whether stocks perform well or poorly when borrowing costs rise. On March 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve approved its first rate hike since December 2018. 11 Fed rate hikes later, the Fed Funds rate is at 5.25% –

Well folks, the volatility is back again. There’s a growing chance of a recession after 11 Fed Rate hikes and now trade wars by the Trump administration. What’s worse, there might actually be stagflation, where inflation remains high while economic output declines. For those of you who’ve been consistently investing since 2009 or earlier, experiencing

All of us are patriots to some degree. However, it’s good to beware of home country bias to protect ourselves from unexpected risk. Home country bias refers to investors’ tendency to favor companies from their own country over those from other countries or regions. After all, it’s usually better to invest in what we know

Due to the war in Ukraine and Israel, a lot of people have been asking me whether to buy gold now. Therefore, I thought I’d revisit this post that I write a while ago and have updated today. Before you buy gold, make sure you understand the basics of commodities. A commodity is typically a

Unfortunately, we may have to accept the reality of living with dead money for a while. The forecasts of lower expected returns in the stock market over the next decade may very well be coming true. As a result, we must adapt and think ahead. In this post, I’d like to discuss several suboptimal financial

Russia has invaded Ukraine. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much you or I can do except give our moral and financial support to the Ukrainian people and organizations trying to help. If you’re looking for a donation idea, check out World Central Kitchen, which is providing warm meals to Ukrainian refugees. Let us hope there is a

Like it or not, we are all bettors. To make things sound better, we like to call ourselves investors. But either way, we’re all constantly taking risks in everything we do. The other day a Financial Samurai reader named Jim challenged me to a $5,000 bet. Surprising! I was going to go back to Jim

Are you excited about a stock split? Don’t be. A stock split is simply financial engineering. Some retail investors get tricked into thinking they’re getting a better deal than they really are. I still remember one of my VPs at Goldman making fun of an Associate one morning. The Associate excitedly shouted out to the