Harley Davidson: A Case Study in Trade War

March 4, 2018Investing, News
Harley Davidson's Exposure to Trade Wars On March 1st, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would impose a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% on aluminum. The economic impact of that, in isolation, would be widely felt, as we covered last week. Just as the world was learning there would be no exemptions [...]

The Case for Gold in a Variable Annuity

June 10, 2017Investing
The Vehicle Gold as an investment is as old as it is controversial. Warren Buffett is not a fan of it. 1 First Eagle Global Value Fund's senior leader Jean Marie Eveillard believes gold "cannot be overvalued." 2 Former Federal Reserve Bank chief Alan Greenspan ruminated even ruminated on gold recently: "Gold is a currency. It is still, [...]

Housing vs REIT’s: Investing in Real Estate

May 23, 2017Investing, Real Estate
Housing versus REIT's Real Estate is a unique class of investment. For many, Real Estate is both the largest asset and the largest liability in their financial life. We have classic personal finance dichotomies such as "own versus rent" related to Real Estate. Even the sages of the Talmud weighed in on the topic of Real Estate investment, with [...]

Global Economic Growth

May 13, 2017Investing
Global Economic Growth What predicates strong economic growth? We look at one World Bank studyThe Global Growth Study In 2008, the World Bank funded a study by Nobel Prize winner Michael Spence to answer questions such as "why have only 13 developing world economies achieved sustained, high growth since World War II?" 1 The 198 page [...]

Closed-End Funds: An Introduction

May 12, 2017Investing
Closed-End Funds: An Investment Company The Investment Company Act of 1940 established the framework for today's "funds." Closed-End Funds (CEF's) are one of the four main investment company types commonly operating, the other three being the Mutual Fund, the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), and the Unit Investment Trust (UIT). Closed-End funds are professionally managed investment companies that [...]