The Vanguard Balanced Fund (VBAIX) was down 4.73% in October. This was the worst monthly return for this 60/40 stock/bond fund since September 2011 when it fell 5.0%. The data for this fund goes back to 2001 so I looked at the worst monthly losses to get a sense of where this past month ranks….
Ben Carlson
Animal Spirits Episode 53: Panic a Little
On this week’s Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben we discuss: What’s the one thing we’re certain of about the stock market going forward? Why volatility begets more volatility in the markets. How expectations factors into the stock market and the economy. Why the stock market is nothing like a casino. Labor shortages, wages, and…
The Relative Anchor in Rates
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate is inching ever closer to 5%, up from 3.35% in May of 2013. This is causing people to worry about how this will impact the housing market. The 10-year treasury yield is above 3% been after bottoming out under 1.4% in the summer of 2016. This is causing people to…
The Psychology of Sitting in Cash, Part Deux
In early-2015 I wrote a piece called The Psychology of Sitting in Cash where I tried to answer the following reader question: I took one piece of advice from a close friend that the market was too high and that I should go to cash and wait for a correction. I am still waiting. How do…
Martin Short’s Nine Categories for Self Evaluation
Martin Short has had a sneaky good career in Hollywood going on four decades or so. He was on Saturday Night Live for just one season in the mid-1980s but that led to movies like Three Amigos, Innerspace, Three Fugitives (underrated if memory serves), Father of the Bride, Captain Ron (loved this one) and many…
When Stocks Fell 10%…
As of the market’s close yesterday the S&P 500 was down 9.4%. Not quite a 10% correction but it’s a stone’s throw away. The question all investors would like to know is how much further this downturn has to go. The answer is I don’t know and neither does anyone else. But we can look…
Animal Spirits Episode 52: The Next Subprime
On this week’s Animal Spirits with Michael & Ben we discuss: What’s the next subprime? How important is housing to the economy? Housing stocks are getting crushed. What does it all mean? What if mortgage rates keep rising? How inflation impacts portfolio decisions. Why owning bonds is difficult when inflation is rising. The Fed’s take…
Can the Stock Market Predict The Next Recession?
As of this morning’s cold open, the S&P 500 is down 7.5% or so. The Fed is hiking interest rates. Mortgage rates are rising. Homebuilder stocks are getting annihilated. The economic recovery is well into its ninth year. The unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in 50 years. People are asking — are the markets predicting…
A Lost Decade of Dollar Cost Averaging
Investors who dutifully put money into the stock market on a periodic basis over the decade ended in 2009 would have felt dejected when looking at their statements. If you started dollar cost averaging $500/month into the S&P 500 in January of 2000, by December of 2009 you would have invested $60,000 in total. This…
Allow Myself to Contradict…Myself
A reader asks: Does your Bond Bear Market note contradict your previous case for bonds? The conclusions are unclear to me. I can see how this could be confusing. In a post last week I discussed the potential for bonds to do well if all the right pieces fall into place which was followed up…
