Financial Insights

Reversion to the mean is a fancy statistical term for the tendency of data points to return to their historical average over longer periods of time.  As an example, according to Google, the average June rainfall in Pittsburgh is just over four inches for the month.  Could be zero, could be eight inches, but you would expect […]

The first quarter of 2024 turned out to be a positive one for investors, with most major market indices posting healthy gains in the quarter. The S&P 500, a broad measure of the U.S. stock market, rose by approximately 10.6% during this 90-day period. It was a great start to the year and a continuation […]

In my updates, I usually find an investment theme that I want to present to you and then attempt to write about it in an educational and fun way.  Given that the internet and cable TV are chock-full of financial reporting these days, there is better use for your time and mine than just repeating the […]

The title of this summer update applies to how the financial markets have started 2023 and my investigation into AI (artificial intelligence, smart software you can talk with).  The good news is the financial markets have performed well year to date (YTD), much better than all the hype of recession, inflation and economic woes.  The […]

Spring is here and my backyard is full of rabbits.  Many handily survived our mild winter and, yes, they are cute, but these are big bunnies.  I have lived in the same house for three decades now and have seen the ebb and flow of nature over the years.  In the past, we had more […]

From a financial viewpoint, 2022 was a year where we all suffered, but I sincerely hope your year was better than mine.  Although I hit a couple happy milestones this year – I celebrated my 60th birthday as well as the 40th anniversary with my lovely wife – this was also the year that Alzheimer’s […]

Several years ago, a sports reporter had a great idea.  Each year, they would “retire” some worn out, overused sports cliché, like “smash mouth” football or we play the season “one game at a time.”  In the economic drama that has unfolded over the current Fed tightening cycle, the appropriate economic cliché to retire for […]

As an economic commentator on CNBC was trying to describe how much longer the stock and bond markets might stay down, she said the day-after-day bad news is as irritating as her kids asking, “Are we there yet?” on a car ride. Hearing that triggered childhood memories of my family’s frequent car trips. Around 1970, […]

It is still hard for me to fathom that my high school years were over forty years ago.  Back in the day, mainly because of my size versus my talent, I was quite the athlete.  I will spare you my Al Bundy stories of gridiron glory, but I want to tell you about two-a-day practices.  […]

As most all of us are aware by now, financial markets have been off to a rocky start to 2022.  After several very strong years for stocks, this recent pullback is not, statistically, unexpected or unusual.  However, there does seem to be more than the usual number of concerns in the financial markets now.  In […]