Wealth and Asset Management for You

A Penny Saved “A penny saved is a penny earned” is a phrase often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, who wrote in his 1737 Poor Richard’s Almanack, “A penny saved is…

November 20, 2025 – The last penny was recently minted in Philadelphia where the first one was minted over 230 years ago. The problem is that it now costs over three times more to make a penny than it is worth. There have been concerns that artificial intelligence data centers and infrastructure are also consuming more resources than the payoff may be worth. The technology sector has been declining over the past couple of weeks on these concerns. Nvidia allayed fears of a near-term AI bubble with positive guidance for the fourth quarter last night, although recent earnings reports from several retailers add to a cloudy overall economic outlook.Read More

It was an eventual week. The government shutdown was brought to a close. On Wall Street it was a week of rotation with money rotating heavily out of many tech…

November 17, 2025 – Last week saw massive rotation out of technology leaders into value stocks long forgotten in this year’s rally. Tech investors were spooked by a growing chorus of concerns around circular investing and stretched balance sheets. Some of the fears are real and some probably exaggerated. Given the strong performance over the last two years, some consolidation was clearly called for. Is the correction over? There certainly hasn’t been any panic or capitulation yet. If one looks closely, the big companies doing the best, experienced only modest declines in their stock prices. Those whose promises might have been exaggerated started to pay the price. That purge probably has more room to go.Read More

Navigating Crosscurrents: Optimism, Risk, and the Consumer As we navigate the final months of the year, the market finds itself trading near record highs, fueled by two significant pieces of…

November 13, 2025 – Markets are trading near record highs, buoyed by the end of the government shutdown and strong corporate earnings, yet this optimism is tempered by risks from a cautious Federal Reserve, a potential AI spending bubble, and an increasingly strained consumer. Given this disconnect between high valuations and mounting risks, a pullback should be expected, reinforcing the need for investors to remain diversified and focused on high-quality companies that can weather a downturn.Read More

Last week was a tough one for investors as some of the speculative froth started to come out of the stocks related to artificial intelligence. One sure warning sign is…

November 10, 2025 – Last week witnessed a pricking of the tech bubble as several high-profile names lost 10-30% of their value in one day based on iffy forward-looking outlooks. Simultaneously, last Tuesday’s election suggested broad dissatisfaction with the direction this country is heading. Wall Street tends to ignore elections but the combination of an expensive market and concerning forward-looking outlooks were not well received by a market trading near valuation extremes. There hasn’t been a correction of 3% or more since Liberation Day last April. Caveat emptor.Read More

The Big Short The S&P 500 Index fell 1.2% Tuesday, snapping a two-session win streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index dropped 2.1%. Defensive sectors were the biggest outperformers, with healthcare…

November 6, 2025 – Markets have been whipsawed this week due to concerns over stretched technology company valuations. US stocks tumbled on Tuesday as risk-off sentiment returned to financial markets, but rebounded yesterday on buy-the-dip sentiment. The majority of earnings reports for the third quarter have beaten expectations and the outlook is steady. The trick for investors remains in separating the underlying signal from the daily noise.Read More

The government shutdown continues, but likely will end shortly. Polls question who’s to blame but the right response is that Americans universally either don’t care or they are fed up…

November 3, 2025 – The government shutdown makes a lot of headlines but has little long-term economic impact. Expect it to end shortly as public displeasure starts to boil over. For equity investors, the big focus last week was earnings reports from five big tech names. While they all grew their earnings, they didn’t raise the bar which is what’s necessary for further significant gains. Markets rarely decline without reason in Q4, but the bull run since April looks a bit extended in need for at least a temporary pause.Read More

Navigating the Great Bifurcation: An AI Boom and a Consumer Bust The third quarter has concluded against a backdrop of profound contradiction. On the surface, equity markets, particularly in the…

October 30, 2025 – The current economy is defined by a deep bifurcation, where a massive, AI-driven capital expenditure boom is fueling record tech profits and a rising stock market for the affluent, even as the lower-income consumer faces a severe affordability crisis marked by rising delinquencies and credit-market stress. This “Tale of Two Consumers” creates a precarious investment landscape, as the tech rally is dependent on a potentially circular and unsustainable spending cycle, while the deteriorating financial health of the broader consumer base presents a significant headwind to the real economy.Read More

For the past two weeks I have been traveling in Europe. The continent is an economic mess. Yes, tourism is strong and, on the surface, all seems vibrant. But in…

October 27, 2025 – With President Trump making news overseas, and Canada facing more tariffs, Wall Street will focus on the earnings of five big major tech companies this week. In the short-term, meaning between now and year-end, the prospect of continued solid earnings and lower short-term interest rates should keep stocks moving higher. But there are always warning signs. The biggie is debt. Too much debt burst the balloon in 1929 and again in 2008, the two biggest calamities of the last century. Debt levels aren’t quite threatening yet but they are moving in the wrong direction and bear watching.Read More

We’re Sending You Back to the Future October 26th, 1985 marks the date that Marty McFly first travels back in time to 1955 in the original Back to the Future…

October 23, 2025 – This is a significant week in Back to the Future movie lore. The famous time-travel movie of 1985 highlighted a trip back 30 years and also ahead 30 years. Predictions of future technology are notoriously off the mark, but the pace of technological innovation continues to drive economic growth today. Markets may be taking a breather from new highs recently, but corporate earnings reports have been generally positive, and the near-term future is not as bleak as once thought.Read More