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Fed Funds and Stock Relationships

As every investor knows by now, the Federal Reserve raised the fed funds rate by a quarter-point on March 15th.  More importantly it reiterated its intent to increase rates another three times and maybe even four times in 2017.  By … Continue reading

GOLD Versus STOCK

Over the last year, gold has dropped in price and stocks have rallied in price.  Consider what this may mean in terms of their relationship shown on this first chart. The chart shows Gold as measured by GLD (SPDR Gold … Continue reading

Danger: Yield Curve Ahead

The Federal Reserve recently raised the fed funds rate a quarter of a point on December 14.  This was for only the second time since the Great Recession back some six years ago.  They finally feel that they have hit … Continue reading

Hitting a Moving Date

Growing in popularity are target date funds.  These are also known as lifestyle or age based investing.  The idea is that you invest in a fund with a target retirement date.  If you are young with a more distant retirement … Continue reading

World Income Index (WII)

This article looks at the World Income Index (WII). The chart compares the ratio between WII (blue line) and AGG (red line) from 12/5/2007 through the present.  Both were set at 100.  The ratio (green line) compares their relative performance.  … Continue reading

World Growth Index (WGI)

This article looks at the World Growth Index (WGI). The chart compares the ratio between WGI (blue line) and SPY (red line) from 12/5/2007 through the present. Both were set at 100. The ratio (green line) compares their relative performance. … Continue reading

Precious Metals Mining for Profits

Along with the gold price itself, precious metal stocks have risen substantially over the last year.  One proxy of gold and silver is the PHLX (Philadelphia) Gold Silver Index known as XAU (INDEXNASDAQ: XAU).  This is a capitalization weighted index … Continue reading

Cap Weighted vs. Equal Weighted

Can you beat the S&P 500 by using the S&P 500?  It may be possible over time with an equal weight S&P 500 strategy, rather than with the more familiar cap weighted strategy you find with, for example, the well-known … Continue reading

4 Tips to Help Improve your 401k Plan

We have analyzed near 50 different 401k plans (and other retirement type plans) and we can say unequivocally that there are good plans and not so good plans. What makes the difference between the two?  In a word, four things; low … Continue reading