Personal Finance

The following infographic highlights 9 relatively recent “black swan” events that will have a lasting impact on how investors approach markets.

The next six months could be the most conflicted period that most of us have ever experienced, so, I'm suggesting that we enter it open-eyed, cautious, and conservative in managing our money and financial affairs at least through the spring.

What is the value of education for household income? The Census Bureau's annual survey data for 2015 published last week gives us some interesting insights into this question.

A bubble is the state of a market before the crash. It is a situation in which assets trade at a price that is considerably higher than their intrinsic value and, in my view we're currently in a bubble. The current S&P 500 P/E is at 25.09 (when the historical average is 15.61). The question is, "When will the market crash?" and I see worrying signs that this could happen soon.

We are better off than ever before according to the Fed Q2/16 estimate of the balance sheets of U.S. households which shows that, collectively, our net worth reached a new high in nominal, real, and per capita terms. The bottom line is that, in fact, life in the U.S. continues to get better and better.

We are living in the greatest debt bubble in world history, and there are signs that this giant bubble is now starting to burst and, when it does, the pain is going to be greater than most people would dare to imagine.

Rebalancing is a form of both risk management and a systematic way to carry out a contrarian investment strategy. The entire point of allocating money to different investments in a thoughtful way is to create a risk-return profile that balances out your long-term objectives with your short-term comfort level. Deviating from that risk-return profile can be a huge behavioral risk if you’re not aware of how it can change your portfolio’s composition.

Sadly, things have now gone too far to stop the inevitable currency collapse and implosion of the financial system but that doesn’t mean that it is too late for individuals to protect themselves.

The price of an average (benchmark) home in Vancouver, Canada is $1,400,000 which is 30.1% higher than it was a year ago. Yes, 30.1%! Everything seems rosy when riding a hot investment until one thing goes awry. We never seem to know what that'll be, but experienced money managers usually get the heebeejeebies just before it happens -and that's what is happening these days.

Below is an infographic on Avenues to Retirement which focuses equally on gold IRAs, annuities and other non-gold related options. You will find it a valuable resource for preparing for retirement.