By 2 Cents on June 21st, 2011 | Category: Investing |  Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak.
~Jay Leno
Today’s quote illustrates why it’s so hard to invest in markets. There are so many variables, and some of them may not even be apparent to us. You could become the best fisherman on the planet and still lose money if someone successfully manipulates the market for your catch.
A little more than a year ago, I wrote a two-part piece answering 8 questions posed by Kevin at Out of Your Rut. He was interested in finding out where his readers thought the stock market was headed. I gave some pretty detailed answers to his questions and, while I think I got a lot of [...]
Read on and enjoy … What’s Next for the Markets?
By 2 Cents on June 16th, 2011 | Category: Economics |  Truth is after all a moving target Hairs to split, And pieces that don’t fit How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is after all so poorly lit.
~Neil Peart, Turn the Page
The following is an excerpt of an article that was originally published on Seeking Alpha as premium content. You can read the entire article there.
I read two fascinating articles this week that shed a little light on the opaque workings of our global financial system. One used recently declassified documents to show that foreign banks were the greatest beneficiaries of the Federal Reserve’s efforts to quell the financial crisis. The second elucidated a recent BIS report that revealed the relative exposure of U.S. versus European financial institutions to a PIIGS default. The former article posited that the data provides the grounds for Ben Bernanke’s impeachment. The latter [...]
Read on and enjoy … Overexposed: European Debt, Systemic Risk, and Stealth Bailouts
By 2 Cents on June 14th, 2011 | Category: Life Balance |  He didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
~Clarence Budington Kelland
If you’ve been following the story of our recent life changes, you know that we just bought a home about two and a half hours from where we live now in order to take advantage of a new opportunity even though it meant taking out a much larger home loan. When I last updated you, we still needed to sell our current home. We put the house on the market a couple of days after that post and sold it 5 days later.
Since this is a time of year when a lot of folks are looking to buy and/or sell a home, I thought some of you might be interested in how and why we sold our home so quickly. [...]
Read on and enjoy … How We Sold Our House in 5 Days
By 2 Cents on June 9th, 2011 | Category: Investing |  A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.
~Bob Hope
This is an excerpt of an article that was originally published on Seeking Alpha as premium content. You can read the entire article there.
The old joke from Bob Hope in today’s opening quote isn’t quite as true as it used to be. For one thing, we’re still recovering from a financial crisis that was sparked in large part by banks lending money to plenty of people without proof of, well, just about anything. For another, some think we’re not really recovering at all due to the fact that a lot of those bad loans are still hidden in the depths of bank balance sheets … or somewhere just far enough off the balance sheet to evade close scrutiny … or on government/central bank balance sheets, which [...]
Read on and enjoy … Is This a Good Time to Invest in Banks?
By 2 Cents on June 7th, 2011 | Category: Money Psychology |  Tell your money where to go. Don’t ask where it went.
~ Unknown
We spend a lot of time here kicking around different ideas on how to manage your money. What’s the best way to spend it, save it, and invest it? It’s all about controlling your money rather than letting it control you.
From the beginning, I intended the “balance” part of Balance Junkie to be a bit of a double entendre. It refers to the quest for a healthy financial balance sheet as well as a well-rounded life balance sheet. Putting money in its place means paying enough attention to it to manage it wisely, but not enough to let it become more important than it is. Today we take a look at how to balance these dueling propositions.
Your Money: Micro Management
The term micro management usually [...]
Read on and enjoy … Putting Money In Its Place
By 2 Cents on June 3rd, 2011 | Category: Investing |  The market every now and then needs a day or two to rest. Maybe even more than a day or two. But over the next 12 to 18 months I expect to see Dow 20,000.
~ James Altucher
I haven’t done a Friday Food for Thought article since the beginning of March. For those who are new here, that’s when I highlight an article I’ve read recently that I think you might find interesting – especially if I heartily agree or disagree with the thesis. Since I wrote about the prospect of the S&P 500 falling 70% on Monday, perhaps it’s only fitting that I give equal time to the bulls today.
Today’s food for thought comes from James Altucher, who thinks we could see the Dow Jones Industrial Average rise to 20,000 over the next 18 months or so. That’s a rise of [...]
Read on and enjoy … The Dow Will Reach 20,000: Altucher
By 2 Cents on June 1st, 2011 | Category: 20 Cents |  Another month has flown by and it’s time once again to point out a few choice pieces writing from the web for May of 2011. Finally, some nicer weather has arrived here and I hope some of it has made its way to where you are too! This month’s selection of articles is as eclectic as always. Enjoy!
1. Most of us like to look on the bright side. Although this Optimism Bias may not always be rational, it can be quite adaptive. Take a few minutes to read this fascinating article by Tali Sharot courtesy of Time.
2. Staying on the brighter side, how about taking a look at 50 Creative Questions to Create the Life You Really Want. Tiny Buddha shares some excellent food for thought in this article by Lynn Zavaro. I love the opening quote: “If you focus on [...]
Read on and enjoy … 20 Cents from May 2011
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