Author Archives: BH&J
Emerging middle class resides mostly in Asia
The world population reaching seven billion people has gained a lot of media attention over the past several months. While the population rises due to longer life expectancy, there is a parallel growth in the middle class. Certainly poverty still … Continue reading
University tuition sprints way ahead of expectations
We’ve written a few times about college tuition and the Washington Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET) savings program. An interesting follow-up note to the 2011-12 spike in the price of GET units comes from GET director Betty Lochner. In the January … Continue reading
The deleveraging divergence
Back in 2008 when it entered our vocabulary, The Economist called deleveraging “a fate worse than debt.” The process of reducing leverage — borrowed money — from personal, corporate and governmental finances is expected to take several years, if not … Continue reading
Returns of diversified investment portfolios – the mirror effect
Modern Portfolio Theory suggests that diversified investment mixes over time should generate the lowest returns with more conservative allocations to stocks and the highest returns using higher allocations to stocks. Allocations with nearly equal weightings between stocks and bonds should … Continue reading
Savers double up without reward
An addendum to Gary’s News Tribune column from January 6. Cash equivalents may be zombie investments but investors still favor them. TrimTabs, a tracker of cash flows to bank and investment accounts released information January 13 demonstrating that Americans deposited … Continue reading
Get rid of paper money to fix the economy … ?
Could you operate your financial life without cash in your wallet? Some people already get by without cash, using credit or debit cards for most transactions or even swiping their iPhone to debit an electronic account. Matthew Yglesias, Slate’s business … Continue reading
U.S. pension plans underfunded by $450 billion
Imagine if you knew you owed a dollar to your friend but you didn’t have to pay it back for 10 years. Using the time value of money, you could assume an interest rate and then invest some amount (say … Continue reading
Greece, land of the gods and debt
With all the attention over the past year on Greece and its debt, it’s interesting that a Greek Goddess is now being used to explain a potential outcome for the European economy. Blackrock, in its 2012 Outlook, described its worst … Continue reading →