April Fools’ Markets: Volatility, Oil Spikes, and Staying in Your Seat
April Fool’s Day is a Day of Fear at The Wealth Training Academy. There’s a certain someone in our office, who will remain nameless here, who just loves a good prank. This person generally loves to hide around corners and on the other side of doors as we open them and scare the life out of us as he or she (no I’m not even giving that away) sneaks up from behind…
Reverence for the Mission. Responsibility in the Markets.
The 82nd Airborne … I have chills. Where I grew up in Eastern North Carolina was just 2 hours away from where they were stationed in Fort Bragg in Fayetteville. I still feel overcome by a hushed reverence and a welling of pride in my chest when anyone brings them up, even though I never served in the military nor shared in their accomplishments. In Rocky Mount, the Army paratrooper division was close enough that it made many of us, including me, feel that hometown pride whenever the name was invoked….
FUD Is Temporary: Don’t Let Market Madness Steal March Madness
March Madness is here. They should probably change the name this year. I think we’ve had our fill of Market Madness this March. But UNC and Duke are coming to town, and the Bon Secours Wellness Arena should be bumping with trumpets blasting fight songs this weekend. Perhaps it can take our minds off the spectacle of current events in the Middle East and the resulting drama playing out on the S&P 500…
A Narrow Strait, a Wide Horizon: Opportunity in a Changing Market
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. Now ascending the Iranian “throne” is Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Same beard, not quite as long as Daddy’s and with a dash of pepper in there that Daddy must have lost decades ago. According to the New York Post, the younger Khamanei is lacking aspects his father had and yesterday posted on Facebook that he had “the charisma of a boiled potato.”…
Don’t Let Market Ghouls Haunt You: Navigating Oil, AI, and Uncertainty
Projecting out a successful retirement and trying to account for all the ghouls around the corner such as inflation and unforeseen family emergencies is hard enough as it is to get right. So, when the stock market turns against you and threatens to upend all those plans, it can feel like a malevolent entity that is out to get you…
AI Unleashes Monstrous Doubts: Acting with Prudence in a Volatile Market
In the last few weeks I’ve made it a habit of testing AI, specifically through Alexa and Grok, to see how adaptable to humans it’s becoming. After racing my son and losing badly many times during an interval workout this past weekend (Martins saw this unfold), my legs were terribly sore when I awoke on Monday. Having been subjected to much gloating and teasing from my son the day before, I needed a big-time ego boost. So, as I rolled very slowly out of bed, I asked Alexa…
AI Smacks Down Software Stocks: What’s the Next Chapter?
I’m a pretty simple guy who likes cheeseburgers, watching a good show on Netflix with my wife and playing with the kids at the lake. So, when I write, I really despise big words that are mostly said in my opinion for the sake of sounding smart. After hearing this particular cringeworthy word for weeks, I’ve hunted the thesaurus, but unfortunately there is no proxy for “disintermediation”…
A High-Wire Act Called Life: Why Preparation Is the Ultimate Valentine
Other than some crashing metal prices last week, there’s just not a lot of exciting things to discuss in the market. You want to hear about the unemployment rate? It just went down 0.1%. The stock market yawned and so did I. So this week I’d like to address some more 30,000 foot issues like …Life, huh? What a high-wire act! So much to remember every single day….
The AI Super Bowl: When the Dreamers Start Losing Yardage
It’s the one night of the year that men securely control the remote control. (Do we have to give it back this time?) For one glorious evening – for reasons completely unknown to us simple men – our wives, girlfriends and significant others agree that watching a football game IS the path to happiness. We’ve been treated to watch up to 59 Super Bowls, depending on your age, with Super Bowl 60 between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks set to kick off Sunday evening…
Sympathy for the Weatherman: Forecasting Markets Without the Hype
Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man who … predicts the rain,
I’ve been around to shed many a tear
As the Sky did … an about-face.
I was round in ‘88 year
When there dropped a foot … of snow and pain,
Made darn sure I used a big wide range
So you listeners … won’t seal my fate.
Pleased to meet you,
Hope you guess my name …
