Tips for Investing Wisely

This post may be different than what you were expecting. I don’t share any hidden secrets or 100% guaranteed stock tips that will improve the returns on your portfolio. But I do want to help you get out of your own way and invest with purpose so that you can be...

What’s On My Mind – Chat GPT

If you haven’t heard, Chat GPT is suddenly the most talked about innovation in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). This AI platform can, with some simple instructions, can generate “coherent, fluent text that feels human-generated”. My son, Reese, demonstrated...

2023 Off to a Great Start

January Excitement January turned out to be one of the best months the stock market has seen since 2019, and the first day of February wasn’t too bad, either. When you consider that the Federal Reserve’s board members met today and voted to raise short-term interest...

What’s Lurking Around the Corner?

Federal Reserve December Meeting As expected, The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates Wednesday by 0.50%, which brings the rate to around 4.5%. In the statement accompanying the move, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s use of the phrase “ongoing...

Is Inflation Coming to an End?

Has Inflation Peaked? Last week’s surprisingly positive Consumer Price Index (CPI) number created an upward surge in the market on Thursday and Friday. The October CPI was released, and the core rate of inflation at the consumer level rose by 0.3%, which beat the...

Bear Market Rally or Nah?

Current Conditions All eyes are still on the Federal Reserve right now. The expectation for the November meeting this week is that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates 75 basis points. A month ago, the Fed clearly sent the message that they would do whatever...

The Federal Reserve vs the Stock Market

Current Conditions Recently, I have spent a lot of time examining market indexes to identify possible points of support and resistance, and the June lows seem to be a logical point of support. This week the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes both hit that level of...

Has the Stock Market Bottomed?

Ten weeks ago, on July 1, 2022, we were wondering if the stock market had reached the bottom yet. At that time, I wrote that the economic data coming out was not positive and stock buying was not happening at that time, so the markets might not have reached the bottom...

Investing During Inflation

Recently I looked at our family budget to compare how much more we were spending on groceries and fuel in 2022 versus 2021 and 2019. I skipped 2020 as it was such an odd year due to covid. I knew we were spending more even though it felt like we were buying less, so I...

What Can I Do Now to Save For Retirement

Personally, I don’t care for the word retirement. I prefer to call the time after you finish working at your career “making a life change.” I see it as the moment you can begin living life more on your own terms. But will you be financially secure enough to live off...