Several years ago, when I was leasing my first car, a good friend (who had considerable knowledge of the car industry) gave me considerable advice to help me negotiate with the dealership. His first piece of advice – “they will try to sell you on payment. That is just math. What you care about is […]

After another year of strong performance for US markets, there is increasing chatter regarding what will lead to its demise. This is just how markets work – the more they go up, the more participants look for reasons they will soon go down. One common refrain from bears (ie: those betting the market will decline) […]

If you followed the financial news this week, you undoubtedly heard the story about a US investor named Michael Burry, famously known for the bet he made against the US market prior to the 2008 financial crisis (focused on the complex instruments linked to the US housing/mortgage market). Spoiler alert – he was right (despite […]

For years (perhaps decades), the US market has consistently outperformed US markets. US stocks represent over 60% of global equities and one US company (Nvidia) now has a market cap that exceeds the value of the entire Canadian and UK stock markets. However, a quick glance at global market performance in 2025 shows a changing […]

This week’s Fed meeting reminded me of the often-asked refrain “do you want the good news first?” The Fed meeting started off with good (albeit fully expected) news for markets when the Fed announced a 0.25% rate cut (taking the range to 3.75-4% range). The Fed also confirmed an end to quantitative tightening (discussed in […]

A client reached out with a question on a line in an article released after Wednesday’s Fed meeting – asking what a certain sentence was saying. Here was the quote: The Fed said it would soon end a 3 year effort to reduce the size of its $6.6 trillion balance sheet in a bid to […]

Each month, Rick Rieder, head of Fixed Income for Blackrock, hosts a monthly investment call that is always very informative. Him and his team present exhaustive data on several market trends and concepts. One that caught my attention this week was a discussion of the ongoing divide between certain age and income groups within the […]

The concept of leverage has been in the news as of late (in a few different capacities) and a client asked what exactly it means. Let’s take a look at what it is, why extreme caution is advised, and why its proliferation is a risk to markets. Leverage has multiple definitions but in the financial […]

If these were normal times, I’d be writing about the September CPI and PPI inflation reports. However, as the government shutdown marches on and economic data reports are delayed, it gives me the chance to write about some new & different topics. This week, I’m writing about another excerpt from a great book I’ve discussed […]

It may seem far too soon to worry about 2026 taxes (many just filed 2024 taxes after all!) That may be what prompted a client to ask if there really was news last week regarding 2026 taxes. Turns out there were in fact some announcements made that are good to know – never too early […]