Blog

Enjoy this month’s edition that features a reminder about the merger of TD Ameritrade and Schwab, plus some perspective about the stock market and current events.

TD Ameritrade transition to Schwab update:

My Great-Grandma Tootsie was born in 1880, just 15 years after the end of the Civil War! She lived to be 98 and died when I was 14 so I not only met her but I knew her and remember her well. On the day she died, she picked up some of her younger, 80-something year-old friends in her Studebaker and drove them to lunch.

Enjoy this month’s edition that features a look at the economy, a review of the stock market’s first six months of the year and a reminder of the September transition from TD Ameritrade to Schwab.

Charles Schwab Co. released the results of their recent survey that sought to quantify how much Americans think it takes to be wealthy. While the numbers are certainly interesting, what I found fascinating and refreshing was that the survey indicated most people include non-financial factors when quantifying their own wealth.

Enjoy this month’s edition that features a market review, mid-year stock market results and a summary of bonds.

I recently purchased 6 copies of The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel for my son and his college friends. I told them to consider this their first graduation gift – a year early – and I decided to provide it in advance in hopes they would all start thinking about their financial futures now. Why now?

Enjoy this month’s edition that features a notice about the TD Ameritrade merger with Schwab and notes on the economy and the markets.

I steadfastly ignored articles about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the new ChatGPT – the language processing tool that can assist you with composing emails, essays and, yes, blogs. I ignored it until I listened to a podcast that described some of the ways AI may help transform the economy. Autonomous vehicles is an obvious one that leaps to mind.

Enjoy this month’s edition that features an introduction to our new employee as well as a review of short and long-term views on the stock market.

A bank used to run a TV ad during the SEC Game of the Week where a man, talking about retirement, says he plans to do “absolutely nothing.” His wife then leans in and says, “He means it.” That’s not a plan for retirement, that’s a plan for a vacation. Be careful not to confuse the two.