Friday, February 20, 2026

Remembrance of a great man

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I am saddened to report that my co-blogger, Jim Macdonald, aka "JLM," has died.   Here is his obituary.  Readers of this blog will...
1 comment:
Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Blogs in transition

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 Professor Gerry Beyer's blog on Wills, Trusts and Estates has a new home , and our link in the sidebar has been corrected.  The reason ...
1 comment:
Saturday, April 12, 2025

Happy Anniversary

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 This blog is 20 years old today.  Time flies, whether you are having fun or not. We had great marketing utility from the blog for several y...
Friday, December 27, 2024

At year-end . . .

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  Dave Barry does it again. Boeing deserved every barb.
Monday, July 08, 2024

End of a Banking Era

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 For a century or more, opening a checking account and learning how to write a check was a milestone on the path to adultnood. And a learnin...
Tuesday, March 05, 2024

The financial time bomb no one is discussing

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 The explosive growth of the national debt. In the absence of fiscal restraint, the interest rate for servicing this debt can only go higher...
1 comment:
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Yale beats Harvard again

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Baylor scores high for endowment returns, according to the Wall Street Journal . But why are these multibillion dollar funds tax free, and m...
Tuesday, June 06, 2023

How does our national debt stack up?

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 I ran across an interesting IMF dataset on the debts of central governments, which is timely considering the latest from Congress on our na...
Thursday, April 27, 2023

A Timely Guide to Banking, and Why Banks Fail

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Wealth meanagers and their clients couldn’t ask for a better pocket guide to banking than Bank Failures:  as American as Apple Pie , by vet...
Friday, April 14, 2023

The January in April Mystery

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This full-page ad keeps popping up in our local paper, and that’s downright odd for several reasons:  1. Hardly anybody runs full-page newsp...
Thursday, March 16, 2023

How Siri Became Apple’s Bad Apple

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Twelve years ago I fell in love with Siri, the virtual-assistant app that Apple had just added to the iPhone. Secretary 3.0 , I called her. ...
Saturday, January 14, 2023

Ups and Downs of the Rule Against Perpetuities

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 The Rule Against Perpetuities was born in Tudor England, as  this Smithsonian item reminds us. Charitable funds were exempted by Queen Eli...
Sunday, December 25, 2022

A wonderful Christmas tradition

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 Dave Barry's Year in Review.  
Wednesday, September 21, 2022

“Your 401k Isn’t Drowning"

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Twitter exchange worth noting: Debbie B   So much for hubby retiring soon...our 401 is drowning DelzioEdward Don’t look at the balance, look...
Monday, May 23, 2022

Old Wall Street’s Preserved Fish

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What early New York financier’s name described pickled herring, finnan haddie and other storable seafood? That was the question posed by WQX...
Monday, May 09, 2022

Some People Have Big Bezzles

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 Today’s Axios Markets pointed me to a Felix Salmon column where I learned a new word. Here’s the gist: When markets turn, more investors ...
Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Bitcoin: Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down?

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THUMBS UP Later this year, the 23,000 companies that use Fidelity to administer their retirement plans will be able to offer Bitcoint as as ...
1 comment:
Friday, February 04, 2022

“Take that, Exxon! Shove off, Chevron!”

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Last summer Yale issued a list of fossil fuel stocks in which it would no longer invest. Conspicuously absent: Exxon and Chevron. Since the...
Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Disaster Insurance for Billionaires

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What will happen if the crazies take over and inflation goes hyper, turning dollars into pennies?  A few billionaires are worried enough t...
1 comment:
Sunday, January 02, 2022

Food for thought

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 From the TaxProf , reporting on the Tax Foundation new study.
2 comments:
Friday, December 24, 2021

Dave Barry does not disappoint

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  His review of all the important 2021 developments.
Monday, December 13, 2021

Samuel Pepys Saves Widow’s Estate

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On January 16, 1667/68, Samuel Pepys’ despondent cousin decided to end it all. He threw himself into a pond behind an inn, determined to dro...
Friday, November 26, 2021

Christmas Price Index up 5.7%

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Back in 1984, a bank economist came up with the fun idea of measuring inflation by annual changes in the cost of the gifts in “The Twelve Da...
Monday, November 08, 2021

Unhappy news for financial advisors

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 Rich millenials are apparently succeeding without them.   The Wall Street Journal reports that: About 70% of households with a net worth of...
1 comment:
Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Who remembers Black Monday?

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 I remember it well.  My senior editor, JLM, had turned on a radio in his office to follow the events, which was without precedent.  I didn...
Tuesday, October 12, 2021

“Harry and Meghan can make E.S.G. investing part of pop culture“

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According to the New York Times DealBook, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have made a deal with Ethic, a fintech provider of ESG portfolios....
Sunday, October 10, 2021

A change at the Times

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 Paul Sullivan is leaving his Wealth Matters column after 13 years.
1 comment:
Tuesday, October 05, 2021

South Dakota, World-Class Tax Haven

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Back in 2013, when this blog saluted Sioux City’s street of trust companie s, South Dakota seemed an unlikely addition to the list of state...
Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Jason Zweig’s Artful Newsletter

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Recently signed up for Jason Zweig’s newsletter from the WSJ.   The latest is a winner . Zweig leads off with the depressing thought that th...
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Contrary indicator?

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 The New York Times has a nice, well-illustrated analysis of the inflation picture at the moment . However, I don't trust their conclusi...
Friday, August 13, 2021

Anniversary of a turning point in my Merrill Anderson career

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 It was 40 ago today that President Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act into law.  I helped turn that event into significant profits...
2 comments:
Wednesday, August 11, 2021

August is the Coolest Month

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 Cool in the sense of excellent for stock investors, that is. Instead of fixating on the "January effect", Jason Zwieg's Inte...
2 comments:
Tuesday, August 10, 2021

How Investment Advisers Became ‘Designated Drivers’

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When the merely affluent seek investment help, their advisers generally call the shots. High-net-worth investors aren’t so easy to handle. T...
1 comment:
Friday, July 30, 2021

Work Six Days, Get Paid for Five?

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In some settings a shorter workweek –“work four days, get paid for five” –  draws kudos. Not on Wall Street, where Goldman Sachs and other...
1 comment:
Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Which Kind of Trust Do You Drive?

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Steve Parrish, as quoted in a Kiplinger primer on trusts :   A revocable trust is like the minivan of estate planning. They are multipurpose...