The following guest post comes from Ed Carlson. Ed is a retired Healthcare CFO (and my father) who is spending his time during retirement helping others prepare for the financial, estate planning and healthcare issues that arise once you leave the workforce for good. Ed is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA).  The good news is…

“Heaven: Where the Police are British, Chefs are Italian, Mechanics are German, Lovers are French and, it’s all organized by the Swiss. Hell: Where the Police are German, Chefs are British, Mechanics are French, Lovers are Swiss and it’s all organized by the Italians.” – Proverb

Having a historical perspective on the markets is crucial to be able to understand the present and plan ahead for the future. Looking back on how the markets have performed in various economic, interest rate and investment cycles can give you a broader sense of how things generally function. It’s not always an exact comparison,…

“Why does this matter to me so much? Isn’t it fundamentally stupid that this matters so much?” – Bill Simmons on being a sports fan I’ve spent a lot of time learning, thinking and writing about the inherent behavioral biases that we humans all seem to share. The greatest investors of all-time don’t do things…

“Many things about investing are counterintuitive. Low-quality assets can be safer than high-quality assets. Things get richer as they become more highly respected (and thus appreciate). There can be more risk in thinking you know something than in accepting that you don’t.” – Howard Marks The stock market is the one area in life where…

“The more complexity there is in the market, the more that something simpler stands out.” – John Maeda Fidelity Investments, the behemoth mutual fund company that oversees nearly $4 trillion in assets, has gotten some bad press in the past few months. Fidelity manages many 401(k) retirement plans for employers across the country.  One of…

“Your dreams of creating a dry-cleaning empire won’t be helped by knowing that Thomas Edison liked to take naps.” – Scott Adams Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, had a great piece in the Wall Street Journal last weekend which outlined some of his career advice based on his experience with failure…

“The markets are a classroom where lessons are taught every day. The keys to investment success lie in observing and learning.” – Howard Marks I just finished The Most Important Thing by legendary investor Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital. Marks is one of the greatest value investors of all-time and the book cover even comes…

“A pile of emergency money is about preparing for the unexpected—and it’s about peace of mind.” – Jonathan Clements

“Our natural reaction is to sell after bad news and buy when news is good, thus indulging our fear and our greed. It’s an impossible strategy.” – Carl Richards   A recent study looked into the effects that the weather played on the trading patterns of institutional investors and how this influenced the overall stock…