Bob's Journal
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Bob’s Journal for 10/28
Bitcoin ETF is Off to a Strong Start The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally approved a Bitcoin-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF), and investors quickly took a liking to it. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy (BITO) debuted on Oct. 18 and gained nearly 5% by the end of the trading day. It rose again on its second day […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/21/21
Some Notable Events That Grabbed My Attention This Week This past Tuesday, Oct. 19, marked 34 years since the S&P 500 had what is still the largest decline in a single day. The index lost more than 20% of its value on that day in 1987. An investor who bought at the close on that […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/14
To learn the details of the changes for estates, trusts and taxes that are being considered in Congress via the Build Back Better Act, visit the new Art of Legacy Planning podcast. It is produced by David Phillips’ Estate Planning Specialists with the aid of the Durfee Law Group. Misreading the Employment Reports Last Friday’s […]
Bob’s Journal for 10/7/21
Businesses Show Confidence in the Economy Speculative-grade loans taken to pay dividends are setting records in 2021, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s LCD as reported in The Wall Street Journal. More than $72 billion in such loans have been taken out already in 2021, with the proceeds used to pay dividends. Though almost three […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/30
U.S. Household Net Worth Surges Rising prices for stocks and homes have been good for the balance sheets of U.S. households, according to a quarterly report from the Federal Reserve. The total net worth of all U.S. households increased by $5.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2021 to $141.7 trillion. The largest contributors to […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/23/21
The Evergrande Collapse and Global Stocks Last week when I wrote about the “Red Light for Some Stocks” in this email, I didn’t mean for the markets to take it as a broad sell signal. Major stock market indexes have been mostly declining since peaking on Sept. 2. The declines accelerated over the last week, […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/16/21
Investment Lessons from 9/11 Much of the country marked the 20th anniversary last Saturday of the attacks of September 11, 2001. There are some investment lessons to learn from that period. At the time I was on the Board of Trustees of the Virginia Retirement System (VRS). The VRS had a firm policy of rebalancing […]
Bob’s Journal for 9/9/21
It’s Past Time for Congress to Fix Social Security The Trustees of Social Security and Medicare last week finally issued their 2021 annual report. The news wasn’t good, but not as bad as many expected. Normally, the trustees issue their annual report sometime in the spring, but they took extra time this year for further […]
