I’m sure you all remember the classic definition of insanity….doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome.
The definition fits national energy policy hand-in-glove…with no relief in sight.
I’m indebted to Robert Bryce’s “So Much for ‘Energy Independence”  in the op/ed section of the Wall Street Journal (July 7, 2009, p 15).
I’m […]

There appears, at last, to be some adult supervision in the new administration.
Reportedly, Sheila Bair, the head of the FDIC refused to go along with a bailout for ailing CIT Corp, deeming it not to be a Tier One institution (aka “too big to fail”).
Reality may have finally dawned on the regulators.
Some firms…most firms…are not […]

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post, which is a reprint of an article its entirety from the July 7, 2009   SmartMoney.
(Copyright, SmartMoney magazine, July 7, 2009)
6. “I know zilch about zoning.”
Real estate agents love to suggest big ideas to prospective buyers—say, removing trees to enhance a view, or even squeezing a rental unit […]

Here’s another reprinted article its entirety from SmartMoney (though again, we’ve added all the links). With so many people taking advantage of the buyer’s tax credit in real estate, and as a former realtor myself, I thought we could all use a reminder about most real estate brokers we work with.
(Copyright, SmartMoney magazine, July 7, […]

Most of the pending legislation comprising financial regulatory reform will serve no purpose other than to add to the regulatory burden facing private enterprise.
It will boost government employment, of course, but its effect on productive America will be to function as a shadow tax….something that removes capital from the private sector as it transfers to […]

Picking up on our theme of intelligent debt applications, it might help if we examined the ramifications from being a borrower in a world about to be engulfed in inflation.We have just this past year concluded a remarkable bull run in the bond markets, that began in the early 1980s, and finally reached bottom when […]

It’s high time that someone pointed out the perpetual blind spot that most investment professionals…and their clients…overlook.
As any introductory course in accounting will teach you in the first lesson plan…
There are two sides to the balance sheet of any going concern…
…be it a business or a family.
On the left side we list assets, starting […]

Step one was making sure that your current designations on your workplace retirement savings accounts were in order.
Step two involves some more sophisticated estate planning…
…a task that takes on an entirely new dimension when you have heirs spanning one or two generations.
Start with the idea that there are two kinds of retirement accounts:

Those that […]