By Victor Schramm, CFS®Notes on Negative Interest Rates Negative Interest Rates are changing the way investors think about investing across the developed world. Once considered to be quite literally impossible by such diverse Economic thinkers as Ludwig von Mises and John Maynard Keynes, Negative Interest Rates exist and appear to be sticking around for a [...]
Israel Looks to Lead the Cannabis Export Market By Victor Schramm, CFS® Israel has held a position of world renown for entrepreneurship in the past decades- a trend that has only accelerated in recent years. Now, Israel hopes to lead in the export of cannabis products. Back in late January, 2019, the Israeli cabinet approved [...]
By Victor Schramm, CFS®Of Faith & Finance II: Why "Chaim" Investment Advisors? When I wrote Of Faith & Finance a couple of months ago, I hadn't anticipated it becoming as popular as it was. Having been asked to go further into this area by readers- and because this is especially important to me as an advisor- [...]
What's Really in Your Cannabis ETF? A Deeper Look at the Diverging Investment Strategies in the Cannabis ETF MarketBy Victor Schramm, CFS® As a Portland, Oregon-based firm, I get asked a lot about Cannabis Industry investments. After all, we've been at or near the epicenter of the so-called Green Rush for years. Every once in a [...]
US Manufacturing Still Expanding According to New Data... BarelyBy Victor Schramm, CFS® An important indicator of the U.S. Manufacturing Sector fell at an unexpected rate this week. The ISM Markit Purchasing Managers Index (or PMI) hit a 116 week low, clocking in 50.6 compared to last month's 52.6 If that doesn't mean a whole lot [...]
By Victor Schramm, CFS®, AIF®Of Faith & Finance: How Belief Shapes Sound Investment Strategy What role should religion play in investing? As an Investment Advisor deeply involved in Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), it's a question I'm asked often. After all, what could be more mundane and worldly than finance? Is there a way to harmonize [...]
By Victor Schramm, CFS®Midwestern Farmers Facing Unintended Tariff Consequences I haven't been a fan of the so-called Trade Wars of the current administration. I've also been an analyst willing to conceded that at various key moments in the US-China trade confrontation, the United States has appeared to be "winning." One reason I've opposed the Trade Wars [...]
The Fed Says the Economy's Still Expanding The Federal Reserve publishes a "soft" data report on the state of the United States economy 8 times a year based on anecdotal evidence known as the "Beige Book." In its most recent March 6th update, the Fed concluded "Economic activity continued to expand in late January and [...]
Asia Pacific ETF's Have Very Different Portfolio Compositions The top ETF's in this sector are taking very different stances on weightings of various countries. I wrote my earliest review of this segment in 2017, and this is an update to that story for the Spring of 2019. Interestingly, the field of top competitors has become [...]
Inherited IRA's America is currently at the beginning of the greatest wealth transfer in human history. 1 Increasing numbers of young people will be inheriting Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA’s) from parents and grandparents, as the past decades have seen Americans relying more on their individual savings and investments. As anyone with an inherited IRA knows, they [...]
