We hope you are enjoying the summer thus far. In the financial markets, things seem to be heating up as temperatures rise across the northern hemisphere. The events of the last few weeks of June seem to have triggered a wake-up call for many investors who may have been lulled into a false sense of …
We hope 2013 has gotten off to a good start for you. We want to start off by wishing you a Happy Earth Day! We exhibited at the Green Festival in NYC over the weekend, and it was great to see so many friends there, and to make some new ones. We are always pleasantly …
We are at the NYC Green Festival this weekend, talking to visitors about Socially Responsible Investing. Stop by and visit up at booth 321, Javits North.
Dear Clients & Friends, As the New Year begins, we’d like to wish you and your family a wonderful 2013. 2012 was quite an eventful year for the global economy. The Federal Reserve maintained exceptionally low rates, which prompted a number of reactions from investors and consumers alike. Home mortgage rates remained near historic lows, …
2013 Themes: Snakes and Ladders Europe lingers: The full-blown European crisis has been with us now for almost 4 years. It appears to morph into a different shape every few months. We believe political action and inaction in Europe will continue to drive global markets this year. Two important events will occur in 2013, …
2012 Themes: The More Things Change. Since we’ve now closed the chapter on 2012, we’d like to review our “10 economic themes for 2012” from last January to see how well our ideas performed. We’ve graded ourselves using these symbols: ? Right, X Wrong, ? Not Exactly. ? Steady as she goes: We think it unlikely the Fed will …
An article in the New York Time today reminds us all how important it is to have our financial act in order before a life-changing event occurs. We always advise clients to prepare a will, health care proxy and medical directive as part of our initial conversations with them. We’ve worked with numerous legal and …
We hope all of you in the north-east made it through Hurricane Sandy safe and sound. For many of us, it was a reminder of the awesome power of mother nature, the interconnectedness of our modern lives and the fragility of our beautiful planet. US stock markets were closed for two days straight, and our …
We hope you’re enjoying your summer and are staying cool. In our previous letter, we noted that the gaudy first quarter returns for risk assets (namely US stocks) were on an unsustainable trajectory and unlikely to continue upwards indefinitely. As we anticipated, the second quarter saw a steep selloff in risk assets as problems in …
Before we begin our quarterly market commentary, we wanted to give you a few quick updates. Louis was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal online where he discussed the mobile budgeting app we are developing. The genesis for the idea came from speaking to both clients and non-clients who have expressed a need for on-the-go assistance …
Lou was profiled in the Wall Street Journal yesterday where he discussed the mobile budgeting app we are developing.
We did a 30 minute webinar on how socially responsible investing works. We’ve posted it on youtube and you can watch it here.
In our minds, the difference between Google and Yahoo! has always been the degree to which their core product relies on automation. Google wins whenever the best solution is a highly automated, machine-solvable one. Yahoo! has the upper hand when the solution requires some level of human interaction and editing. This is a distinction that …
The true tragedy at Pandora Media is not that the stock traded below its IPO price within 24 hours (though investors who bought shares in the secondary market on the first day may disagree). Rather, it’s that the founder (who was one of three co-founders) holds only 2.25% of the outstanding shares. Meanwhile, two venture …
One of the more notable financial news stories of the year so far is the decision of social media heavyweight Facebook to go public (an event we alluded to in our top 10 themes for 2012). The question on everyone’s mind is whether a potential $100 billion market valuation is appropriate for a company that …