How We Got Here · Part 1 If you’re an average American right now, the economy probably feels broken. The stock market keeps hitting all-time highs, yet wealth inequality is the widest it’s been in more than three decades. The richest 10% have more wealth than the bottom 90%. Meanwhile, it’s getting harder for the…
If you’ve ever looked at historical bond returns and were shocked that bonds used to have great returns, you’re not alone. From 1978 to 2012, Long-term Treasuries grew at 9.33% per year on average. Long-term corporate bonds weren’t far behind at 9.11%. These bond returns rival stock returns. Anyone would be happy with a 9%…
If you ask most economists why Americans can’t afford homes, you’ll probably hear them blame some of the following: there’s not enough homes being built, zoning laws, NIMBYs blocking new construction. Sure these are issues, but we’re told that the housing affordability crisis is a supply problem. If we simply build more houses then prices…
What if the national debt isn’t really a problem the government is trying to solve, but a feature of the system itself? Most Americans think about the national debt the way they think about personal debt. If you borrow too much and you don’t pay it back, then you’re in trouble. This way of thinking…
You might think the communication sector is a boring and slow moving industry. Things like phone companies and cable providers. But XLC, the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund, holds some of the biggest and most powerful companies in America. The real question is how does this sector perform? This article will analyze XLC from…
If you ask most people what they think about real estate as an investment, you’ll probably hear something like this: “Real estate always goes up. It’s one of the safest ways to build wealth.” For decades, this has basically been true. Home prices have skyrocketed. People who bought homes in 2016 have seen their property…
Have you ever wondered how the sectors in the S&P 500 have performed over time? The nine major sector ETFs were created by State Street in late 1998. This article is going to show you 27 years of data across every major sector of the S&P 500. I compared each sector’s compounded annual growth rate…
You’re doing everything you were told to do growing up. You got a good job and worked your way up the corporate ladder. You save what you can. But no matter what you do, it feels like you are always one step behind. Your paycheck goes up but somehow things never get easier. Rent, groceries,…
Which bond ETFs actually grew your money – and which ones quietly eroded your purchasing power against inflation and M2 money supply growth? TL;DR – Key Takeaways In a previous analysis, I looked at fixed income performance using Portfolio Visualizer’s built-in asset class backtesting. This time, I’m using actual ETFs because that’s what most investors…
In 2013, the United States’ Debt to GDP ratio officially hit 100%. This meant that the total debt of the US was equal to its total economic output. The Federal Reserve was already several years into ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy). The Fed had cut rates to zero percent for the first time in US…