Days like these (the DJIA was down 400+ points again today) the most popular question I hear is: Where’s the bottom? When is the best time to get in?  First of all, the best time to increase your stock allocation is when Market fundamentals turn positive. They’re all negative right now: there is a currency crisis going on and inflation is threatening...Read More

As you know, there are lots of negative market stimuli out there. Yet corporate earnings continue to show strength. Today, Staples posted a bold 36% year over year increase in earnings, John Deere’s grew at a 15% clip, and the profits for discount retailer Target grew 4% in a tough market. And for a time the...Read More

It seems like only yesterday that people were saying, What downgrade?—the market is back!  And then today’s headlines came along (from The Wall Street Journal): Europe Moves to Halt Crisis Banks Lead Stocks’ Fall Gold Rises on Growth Fears   The Dow opened lower today and struggled all day to make it above water before ending down 76...Read More

The Sunday Call is the most important point I think you should consider before hitting the streets in the new week. This week it’s: Buy, Sell, or Hold?—How you should approach your investments this week. Here’s my two cents. First and foremost: Be comfortable with your asset allocations! You need a steady hand during these times and...Read More

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week at 11,269 – almost exactly on the midpoint of the action zone. This is the equilibrium, the point at which the Dow should trade on average. Once it moves above this point, “the market” starts to become over-valued. And the closer the Dow moves to the top of the action zone, the closer it...Read More

Here are three Wall Street Journal headlines that’ll make you scratch your head: For Street Veterans, Past 3 Days Rank with ’87 Crash, ’08 Crisis Dow Logs Another 400-Point Move (+423), and Economists: U.S. Recession Risks Rise. What you’re seeing in the stock market is a frazzled investor base that doesn’t know what to think and...Read More

I hear definitions of Corrections being “down 10%” and Bear Markets defined as being “down 20%.” Who makes up these rules?   Down 10% of what – 20% from where?—and why do they warrant special classification?  This kind of speculative news making causes confusion. Confusion causes dependence. And that’s not the Lose Your Broker way. Let me try to clear the air. “Markets” are described by...Read More

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is off 13% from July 21, 2011, when it was at the 12,724 mark. That’s a 1,754 point drop in just a few weeks! What happened? Well it appears that Wall Street woke up and read the news. Unemployment recently dropped a fraction to 9.1% – and it’s been bad for...Read More

The only way to achieve your objectives is to consistently outperform the Dow Jones Industrial Average.  Period.  End of story. That makes mutual funds bad investments, as the vast majority of them perform below the market average.  Bad investments drain wealth.   Let’s imagine that your basket of mutuals outperformed all the rest and returned market returns for the last ten years; that...Read More

They say inflation isn’t a problem, or that little exists in “the market” today. They couldn’t be more wrong. The difference between Nominal GDP and Real GDP is inflation. Nominal GDP is measured in current dollars, and Real GDP is measured in a prior year’s dollars (in this case 2005 dollars.)  Below is a chart comparing stock market...Read More