Commentary

Happy New Year! I wish you the best of success in 2012. Let’s review 2011 and then see if there is anything of interest in the investment universe.

Markets certainly have been wildly volatile this year. Dow up 300 one day, down 300 the next. I read recently that the Dow has moved over 14,000 points in the last few months and has essentially gone nowhere, which is really something (and quite exhausting!).

Clearly, protecting our identities is crucial in this day and age. Here are some tips that may helpful.

Thoughts on the debt ceiling.

Comedian Louis CK being interviewed by Conan O’Brien helped me put some things into perspective recently.

Here are some random items I’ve been asked about by multiple clients. I thought I’d share some thoughts with you.

Previously I wrote that the S&P 500 is likely to have pretty mediocre returns for the next several years. Fortunately, there are some reasonable alternatives. Below are a couple of ideas.

Recently Ben Inker of global investment firm GMO gave a speech at Babson College asserting that the US stock market will earn only 2.5% annually over the next several years.

Regardless of the technical/statistical recovery of GDP and the massive rally in the stock market, our economy remains incredibly weak.

On Friday April 16th the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Goldman Sachs for fraud.