Fee-Only Investment Advisory and Financial Planning Firm Serving Greater Richmond, Virginia
In Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, bestselling author Daniel Pink presents some of the most compelling and useful research in the field of in human motivation. One section, “The Good Life,” is particularly enlightening in regard to how we as individuals establish and pursue our life goals. Pink makes the point, and…
Most adults are increasingly experiencing a time crunch. The result is mounting stress and compromised health and vitality. And yet, despite their best efforts, many individuals express frustration about not being able to bring tasks to completion or having enough time to focus on what or who is most important to them. Scientists have…
A bit earlier today, my daughter and I were at a local mall where they offered free horse drawn carriage rides. As you can imagine by the word “free,” there was a long line so I had plenty of time to ponder things. As I was doing so, I started thinking about the two horses…
The Markets Stink. Now what? 2018 was a pretty good year for stock market returns…. Until October. Since then we have been hit with very difficult performance. A couple of weeks ago, the US markets had regained enough ground to at least have a zero percent return. At the moment, though, returns are negative…
Although a number of studies have focused on the effect of income on happiness, Elizabeth Dunn, a socialpsychologist at the University of British Columbia, also wanted to understand the effect of spending choices on happiness. For example, previous research clearly demonstrated that income has a predictably positive effect on level of happiness, but these levels remain flat over…
The US stock markets are still feeling jittery this week, although we are seeing some stabilization in the International Markets, something that rarely gets headline coverage here in the US. The media bathes us in fear inducing coverage when we experience negative returns, but let’s step back from that a bit and think about what…
The stock markets were especially volatile last week. Normally volatile would refer to something going up and down, but when used in the context of the stock markets, we tend to only think about negative returns. I have written before about why holding the course and not making emotionally based decisions is best for anyone’s…
For many years, the prevailing theory was that individuals have a genetically determined happiness set point. In other words, scientists believed that each person could temporarily experience more happiness (depending on circumstances, relationships, and life events), but would then slide back to his or her “pre-programmed” set point. In fact, less than two decades…
The front cover of Wall Street Journal showcased the news, “Propelled by Tech Stocks, Nasdaq Tops 8000 for the First Time”, followed by “Nasdaq Soars Past 8000 to Record” in even bigger print on the front of the Business & Finance section of the August 28, 2018 edition. To be sure, the US stock markets…
We are constantly inundated with headlines and noise that feed our instincts to react. In reality, a lot of the media voices we hear have little meaning for long term investors, and reacting to headlines can be the worst of moves for your long term financial success. The following is a short video clip produced…
Here is a great perspective on the market’s recent downturn from Dimensional Funds Advisors:
Is it time to panic? Is it time to pull out of stocks? Today was a bit ugly in the US Stock Markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 1,175 points, the S&P 500 down 113 points and smaller companies, represented by the NASDAQ closed down 273 points. The news was not a lot…
