The first Presidential election I can remember was 1972. McGovern vs. Nixon. I was in first grade at Lincoln Elementary School in Aberdeen, South Dakota.The day before the election, my teacher Mrs. Dutt told us we would all vote the next day. That evening I excitedly told my parents I was going to vote for McGovern, since he was from South Dakota.They solemnly told me I should vote for Nixon.But the next day I put the ‘X’ in the purple mimeographed square next to the donkey and George McGovern’s name. Of course my vote didn’t count, but my parents’ votes did -- McGovern lost in a landslide, not even carrying his home state. In the end, it didn’t turn out so well for Nixon …
Investing
A Year Later- Micro Investing with Acorns
A year ago, I wrote about my lifelong passion (some would say obsession) for spare change. This dates back to counting the spare change and “egg money” in my grandmother’s chipped gravy boat in the 70’s and continues on today. But here in the 21st century we don’t have a lot of cash transactions, and therefore not a lot of spare change. Enter the micro investing app Acorns which invests your digital spare change. A year ago, I signed up for Acorns and linked my checking account. This is my “funding source”. Then I linked my credit card. You can link more than one card including debit cards. For every transaction on the linked card and the funding source, Acorns “rounds-up”. …
The News is Dreary – Should You Still Be in the Stock Market?
Last week trade wars were and still are in the news. Dow Falls 800 as Yuan Reels, Trump Jabs at China Last weekend horrific news of two more mass shootings in the US. Mass Shootings in ElPaso, Dayton Leave 31 Dead Data hacks, overdoses, deadly weather, shark sightings..... The drumbeat of bad news never ceases. As I write this mid-day on 8/5/19 the CRSP US Total Stock Market Index (effectively the entire publicly traded US stock market) has fallen 5 days in a row, and today looks to be another down day. However, year-to-date the index is still up. I love this terrific video from Loring Ward* "The Best Time to Invest 1927-2017". It gives some perspective about the …
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… especially in the stock market
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So begins the Charles Dickens classic "A Tale of Two Cities". Which by the way I haven't read. Have you? Recently we've seen some good times and bad times in the stock market. On Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 the S&P 500 (an index of the 500 largest US stocks) was down 2.48% On Friday the front page headline in the Wall Street Journal read: Then the very next day, Friday January 4th, the same index was up 3.43% Saturday's headline read: So what can we expect over the next days/weeks/months? Will the markets be up, down, or sideways? Many prognosticators purport to have a crystal ball that can …
The Power of 1% – Small Changes Produce Big Results Over Time
I am currently reading "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. He writes compellingly about creating big improvements in nearly any area of our lives by making small steady changes over time. I'm not quite done with the book so it is not this month's book giveaway - tune in next month to win a free copy! This formula certainly works for saving money. Many 401k plans have encouraged the idea by offering an "auto escalation" feature. With auto escalation the percentage of salary you contribute goes up, typically by 1% each year. When you sign up for this feature this happens automatically which is a great way to save! To see the impact of escalating your savings percentage let's take a look …
