August 3, 2021 China Investment Risk Just Went Up Investors in iShares China Large Company ETF (Symbol: FXI) may be wondering why their shares are 17% below the January 2018 price despite all the strong economic reports coming out of China.  That is 3½ years with large losses! And they might also wonder why China is considered an “Emerging Market” despite having an economy approaching the

July 1, 2021 The Threat of Inflation Inflation is that phenomenon where dollars buy less and less as time goes on.  I’m sure you can see that the prices of food, gasoline and housing are rising fast.  Unless you can do without those 3 items, your cost of living is going up, and the purchasing power of your dollars is going down.  That is price inflation.

June 1, 2021 Will Bitcoin Become a Major Currency? Most Bitcoin promoters talk about the eye-popping price of Bitcoin and use that data as confirmation that it is becoming accepted and will soon take over from the dollar as the world’s preferred currency.  I’ll be addressing this topic more fully in our June 9th webinar (10:00 AM Arizona time), but here are some of the high

May 4, 2021 Real Estate Heading for a Crash In 1989, while visiting relatives in California, someone asked me what I thought of their red-hot real estate market.  I cited an affordability study showing that only 10% of Californians could afford the average home (technically it was the median price, where half of homes are priced higher and half priced lower, rather than a true average

April 1, 2021 What’s Up with Inflation? Rising interest rates have put inflation back in the news, with the Federal Reserve and Treasury department saying “Don’t worry.  This inflation is only temporary.”  That may be possible, but betting on it could be hazardous to your financial health. Inflation can ruin the value of anything denominated in dollars such as bonds, annuities and CDs and savings accounts.