The Economy

How Many Days of Your Life Does Your Home Cost?

Oct 12, 2026

  Having spent years selling and appraising real estate, I’m familiar with the usual measures for valuing a house. Price per square foot, comparisons to similar properties, and the guideline of keeping housing at or below 25 percent of what a household earns are...

What a Less Dominant America Might Mean For Your Money

Oct 5, 2026

I have long suggested owning companies outside the United States as part of a diversified investment portfolio. For most of that time it was unpopular advice. Americans did well betting on America, and the habit of holding primarily US stocks is deeply entrenched. Our...

Living With The Realities Of A Flat Economy

Sep 28, 2026

For three years, clients have been asking me when the economy will get back to normal. I have started answering that this current flat economy may be the newest redefinition of normal, one of many I’ve seen in 40-plus years of writing about money. Home sales, auto...

How Fed Interest Rate Increases Could Raise Your Household Debt

Sep 14, 2026

For most of my career I’ve heard predictions that the federal debt would end in collapse. The warnings have come from both parties, usually from whichever one is not in power. Not having seen a collapse yet, I’m skeptical of new warnings. A recent one...

The More Often You Check Your Portfolio, The More Volatile It Seems

Aug 24, 2026

On the last Wednesday in July, I got several phone calls from clients. On the last Friday in July, nobody called. Why the difference? On Wednesday, the S&P 500 dropped 1.52 percent and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.74 percent. On Friday, the S&P 500 gained...

Corruption, Not Communism, Is The Real Threat To Economic Freedom

Jul 27, 2026

On July 3, President Trump spoke at Mount Rushmore, 25 minutes from my house. He warned of a resurgence of the “communist menace” in this country and called communism “a mortal threat to American liberty.” Afterward, a friend asked me, “Should I move to cash before...