July 2008 Investment Commentary

Today marks the 27th anniversary of Rich’s career in the investment industry, beginning as a stock broker at the prestigious (but now extinct) firm of Kidder, Peabody & Co. You can learn a lot in 27 years, much of it the hard way. The most valuable trait one can acquire when working on Wall Street…

June 2008 Investment Commentary

This past month Rich had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the CFA Institute. This 4 day event, held in Vancouver, BC., included financial analysts from all over the world and venues for future conferences include Edinburgh & Singapore (with Orlando, Boston & Chicago thrown in as well). There are many hotels that…

May 2008 Investment Commentary

First, the good news (our recent IC’s have been so negative, we wanted to start on a positive note). As this is being written: Oil is trading at $111 per barrel, down from $120 earlier in April. Gross Domestic Product increased in the first quarter 0.6%. Personal income increased 0.4% from February to March. Personal…

April 2008 Investment Commentary

On January 12th, 2007, Bear Stearns stock price closed over $171 per share. On March the 11th, 2008, it closed just below $63 per share. On Sunday, March 16th, the Federal Reserve Bank assisted JP Morgan in organizing a “rescue” of Bear Stearns by purchasing shares of Bear Stearns at $2 per share. A week…

March 2008 Investment Commentary

Unfortunately, our March Investment Commentary isn’t any more optimistic than our previous 4 Investment Commentaries. Our economy is in the middle of a significant economic slowdown and the beginnings of significant inflation, a deadly combination that plagued our economy for most of the 1970’s. One year ago, a bushel of wheat was trading for about…