Posts by Thad Gilliam, CFA, CFP®
20 Second Advisor: Debt Ceiling History
The debt ceiling traces its roots to 1902. The US government wanted to build the Panama Canal and needed to ask Congress for authorization to borrow specifically for that project. During World War I, requesting such authorization on a project-by-project basis became too cumbersome to fund the war effort. To ease that burden, Congress passed…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Should I just put my money in bank CDs?
I’ve been getting a lot questions from clients on if they should keep their funds in their portfolio or just take it out and put the funds into a bank CD (now paying 4-5%). To me, the question is all about time horizon. Stocks have a much higher expected return (around 10% over the long…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Bank Troubles & Your Portfolio
Many of you have seen the headlines this week about Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and that some other banks (namely First Republic and Credit Suisse) are in trouble. I thought it would be helpful to give you a brief overview of why SVB failed and if it has an impact on your portfolio. Without further…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Age before beauty – how older investors can outperform higher return investments (hint: it’s time!).
I’m reading a book right now that talks about Warren Buffett. Some say he is a great investor. Others say that perhaps he has just been extremely lucky. Or perhaps he is just an old investor (he’s been investing for a long time!). I think Buffett has a good bit of all three: Investment skill,…
Read More20 Second Advisor: SMART goals = intentional life
It’s that time of year when we clean out the junk in our house, take stock of where we are, and maybe make a few goals and plans for the coming year! I love to plan, but I’ve learned that nothing happens by accident. The best way to move incrementally toward the life you envision…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Secret to staying wealthy? Fear.
I just finished reading a fascinating excerpt from the book “The Psychology of Money.” In the article, the author, Morgan Housel, lays out the argument that the skills needed to gain vast sums of money are very different than the skills needed to retain and protect wealth. Specifically, Housel says: Capitalism is hard. But part…
Read More20 Second Advisor: 14% in a month (or musings about market bottoms)
I’ve often written about the dangers of timing the market. See this article for how I liken it to catching a falling knife. In that post, I describe how investors who get out (often near the bottom) may miss out on the substantial returns that have historically occurred after a market bottom. It’s worth asking:…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Catching a falling knife (or why you don’t want to sell out in this market).
I often tell people that timing the market is akin to trying to catch a falling knife. You might get lucky and grab the falling knife on the handle. Or you might get unlucky – grab the knife on the blade and end up in the hospital. In a nutshell, we know that the market…
Read More20 Second Advisor: 6% vs 2.5% Mortgage – The impact of rising rates on home affordability
If you’re looking for a prediction on when interest rates will rise or fall, alas, I cannot give you that info as I left my crystal ball at home this morning. But, I want to point out how much the recent rise in interest rates affect the monthly payments homeowners must pay when refinancing or…
Read More20 Second Advisor: Concentrated Wealth – A good thing until it’s not.
I was in a meeting last week with a group of other local financial advisors. One of the advisors shared a story about a prospect (from long ago) that was a Yahoo executive. At the time, Yahoo stock was soaring. The advisor begged the prospect to diversify and engage in a strategy that would reduce…
Read More